Archers of Starling
by cocotiks
Summary: The Arrow is now the hero to the citizens of Starling. Oliver Queen is basking in his success and tries to have a private life. But the moment he takes his eye of the game, old villains reappear in Starling and deadlier threats hold his city hostage, the war is far from over. Can he still be the Arrow and Oliver Queen? OLICITY DATE is up in Identity Part 1,2,3! Has flashbacks.
1. The Calm: The Entrepreneur

**Hello everyone! This is my first fanfic and I just couldn't wait for Arrow Season 3 so I let my imagination run wild and this happened. I'm trying to stick to the theme of Identity that the writers are going for this season. Word of warning, I've been following casting announcements and spoilery updates for Season 3, so that's in this. I will crossover with the Flash and some Young Justice characters. I didn't want to place the fic in the Crossovers until I had planned this out properly. I aim to connect each character's storylines and add twists to story arcs from all three shows (Arrow, The Flash, Young Justice) as well as DC Comic arcs making it one big alternate universe but Arrow-centric ofc. Some elements of the first few chapters will be based on the First Look trailer if you've noticed, but I'm making it up as I go along. Tell me what you think! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, The Flash, or Young Justice, those are properties of the CW, Cartoon Network and hence Warner Bros.**

_September 8th_

_Queen Consolidated, 13: 31 AM PST_

For once he wasn't late. Oliver admired the view from the window of his former CEO office at Queen Consolidated as he waited for the Board of Directors meeting to start.

From here, he had a bird's eye view of the city, you could see as far as the river and across the bridge, to West Starling and the Glades in all its gritty glory. The hum of the city was that of any large metropolitan, fast-paced, alive, a never-ending story. If he closed his eyes though, and emptied the office sounds around him. He could hear the sirens wailing, the screams, see columns of smoke glissading into a darkening sky, isolated fires smouldering on the streets, and men with a miracle drug destroying everything in their wake, monsters with black and orange masks.

His former friend's reign of terror seemed non-existent with the calm that had pervaded over the streets for the past five months. It felt like a long time since the city was at peace. While he never permitted himself to indulge or celebrate-because heroes don't need rewards-there was nevertheless, a sense of overwhelming pride.

Deep in thought, it took him a moment to realize someone was saying his name.

"Oliver?" Felicity repeated a second time. He glanced over his shoulder at her.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine" he turned back to the view, though he wasn't paying attention to it anymore.

He could see her reflection smiling because she knew he didn't mean it. "Which is Oliver code, for _not fine_, you're handsomely brooding out the window", she gestured to the glass, he gave a sidelong glance whilst maintaining a blank expression as her cheeks reddened and she rambled to correct herself, "well I didn't mean it like that, I mean; you're making that face, so something must be wrong. I haven't seen you look this sullen in months."

Oliver clenched his teeth, "I'm selling my father and grandfather's life's work to the highest bidder. It feels like I'm giving away both of my kidneys." _And a limb, and an eye, and my liver,_he added satirically.

"You're not selling it, we're just welcoming new business partners", she said keeping her tone light.

Felicity was unemployed-which was partially his fault-and so she had no cover to explain herself when the public saw them together. Neither could afford to hire Digg as his 'black driver', but since his public appearances had become less frequent due to Lyla they didn't have to explain him. But Felicity needed another explanation all-together.

They'd settled with a bullshit excuse of Oliver expanding into computer software and cloud technology. Felicity was his consultant, software engineer, and business associate. Unlike his many other lame cover stories, this one actually worked. At the event of the Board of Directors meeting, she could revert to her position as his 'executive assistant' for a few months.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Oliver, we've been working to save your family's company, and that's what we're doing today."

Hesitantly, Felicity reached for his chest and straightened his tie while talking to him; he leaned towards her as she pulled.

"Besides, not being CEO means you'll have more free time for other activities, hopefully whoever gets the other half of Queen Consolidated isn't another villain you'll have to consider putting an arrow in."

He huffed and closed his eyes, but his lips quirked up at her comment. It felt good to keep the past in the past, as lessons and memories to revisit, instead of wallowing in guilt and what could have been, he was beginning to learn that now.

The receptionist opened the glass door, "Mr. Queen, they're ready for you".

"Good luck". Felicity nodded to him encouragingly and followed him into the conference room.

QC initially tackled bad press from the astonishing discovery of Isabel's involvement in Slade's revenge-a fact which rocked their investors for one hectic month. But Oliver eventually gained the sympathy of Starling's citizens ('Slade was a mad man obsessed with an experimental drug and the Queen family he murdered Oliver's mother and kidnapped his sister', was the summarized tale in the Starling Sentinel).

He didn't have a hand in spinning that story; ARGUS had thoroughly buried the existence of mirakuru, Deathstroke's army, and driven public attention away from their attempted drone strike.

There was also the matter of ensuring the company stayed afloat while trying to find someone to buy out the remains of Isabel's shares once her company Stellmoor Int. went bust. Most of Queen Assets were being held, while Walter kept his shares, but the stock market was not confident with QC yet. It was anyone's game, and anyone could swoop in and takeover.

Felicity took a seat at the back and swivelled her chair to face him. The investors-who were only present because they had too many shares in QC to leave—patiently waited for him to begin, wary of what the Queen scion had to say since his absentness as CEO was what threw the company into chaos in the first place. Oliver Queen stood at the head of the conference room and began his opening remarks.

"Two years ago the people of Starling City thought I was dead and I came back. I am confident that this company will do the same. It has fallen, endured, fought and survived to see a new beginning, starting today. Let's begin".

They clapped, and he seated himself across from Felicity as the first bidder was ushered in. His speech gave him the boost of determination and positivity he needed.

Isabel Rochev came out of nowhere when she annexed QC. He was on the island mourning the loss of Tommy, never moving forward, never moving back. He had opted for Purgatory, leaving the city and his family in shambles, running from responsibility. He was fortunate enough to have friends to bring him back to the reality, despite the pain it brought.

It wasn't going to be easy to commit to the company, but he wasn't going to allow himself to be side-lined again. He would never be able to do it whole-heartedly while being the Arrow. But it was worth the effort to keep his family legacy from crumbling.

They emerged from the conference room three exhausting hours later having made no progress of any kind. His positivity was waning slightly, and his mind was overwhelmed with stock figures and jagged line charts.

All the bidders were capable of withstanding the financial rut QC was in, but they weren't able to rebuild the company to its former glory, if not, they wanted to replace major key executives that Robert Queen and Walter had groomed for decades. That was only a miniscule fraction of the problems the bidders brought with them.

Whatever it was, he hated being a businessman, was frustrated with all dollar signs and politics that went with it, yet ironically he needed QC to fund his Arrow activities. He'd simply wanted to find a bidder and get the company running properly immediately, _be done with it,_but his search was going to take longer than he'd like.

He exited the conference room with Felicity by his side. "That played out waaaay worse in my head", the look he gave was almost sarcastic, she waved her hands to correct the misguided comment, "not that I thought you'd fail, it's just a lot of people in there don't really like you".

Oliver shrugged, "I can't blame them. What do you think of the last bidder?" He asked serious now, she didn't take a second to consider it; she was already on the same page as him. Many people did not see it when they saw Felicity, and read her title 'executive assistant' but she was very instinctual and knowledgeable when it came to Business and Economics, probably more than he was.

"I think we can do better" she nodded with steely determination. Then Garett Newman the CFO stepped in front of them.

"Excuse me, Mr. Queen, apparently there's another bidder for the company".

Both Oliver and Felicity frowned, they'd scoured through dozens of bidders that afternoon, who else could possibly have interest in the company that he hadn't already seen? Then the sound of footsteps echoed on the marble floors, Garett pointed behind them.

"Ray Palmer", said the newcomer, with a clear, confident voice, wearing a sharp, charcoal suit. Palmer was slightly taller than him with neatly coiffed dark hair and dark eyes. The entrepreneur latched onto his extended hand with a firm handshake.

"Nice to meet you, love your company", Ray flashed him a million dollar smile. Oliver was a little taken aback by Mr. Palmer's sudden, unscheduled entrance, whether it was rude or ballsy he had yet to determine.

"Oliver Queen", he countered, returning with his own hundred-watt smile, "but you already knew that" he went to introduce Felicity.

"Felicity Smoak, my executive assistant", but did not finish when Ray bulldozed over him.

"I know that too", the entrepreneur gave Felicity an intrigued fascinated glance, his eyes even sparkled. She blushed, which in turn made Oliver go from surprised, to royally pissed off with Ray Palmer.

"Sorry for the tardiness, but I like to make an entrance, and I wanted to ensure I would receive your undivided attention, because I believe I'm what you're looking for." He said, talking animatedly with his hands. "As they say 'save the best for last'".

Oliver was strongly inclined to make an excuse to leave, but the CFO was listening right behind them and they'd drained their roster of bidders, another-albeit unexpected one- couldn't hurt. He mustered a welcoming smile. "By all means" he said, holding the conference door open for Mr. Palmer as a show of politeness.

Thirty minutes later, Oliver determined that Palmer's entrance was ballsy, because the guy had a lot to say about his future investment in QC in a short space of time. He had the ability to fill the room with his presence as if it wasn't just Oliver and him in the room. Ray's assistant came and left after setting up a presentation for his boss.

Oliver was expressionless and silent as Palmer stood and presented, cracking jokes here and there. But Oliver was no less guarded with the enigmatic entrepreneur despite his bright easy-going attitude. He may not be the most learned person when it came to the corporate world, but he knew how to ask the gruelling matter-of-fact, hard questions, otherwise how could he be the Arrow?

When he finally commented it was to say, "You have a profound interest in our Applied Sciences Division." Out of all of Ray's various ideas for QC, the ASD was what he spent the most time on and the one he obviously had a very deep passion for. It sent Oliver's radar off instantly.

"Indeed I do", Ray's shoulders sagged and his countenance went from smiling to a mix of anger and mild disappointment the first negative emotions he'd seen from the entrepreneur. "I was extremely upset that the authorities could not apprehend the terrorists who bombed the facility. Those criminals decelerated decades of research and investment in various bio-medical and technological fields across manifold spectrums".

_Yes, those criminals would me and my team,_he thought wryly_._How Ray would react if he knew Oliver's executive assistant was the mastermind behind the bombings? He reminded himself why he had to bomb the facility in the first place.

"While your interest is merited, QC has always been an active philanthropic member of the society, including numerous restoration projects in the Glades. I am sure you are aware of the other catastrophes that have hit this city, we—"

"Such as that maniac Slade Wilson?" Ray cut in, sending a knife of hurtful emotions into Oliver's chest. He had made peace with his demons and grieved his losses but it appeared as though he was going to be reminded of them.

"I am sorry about your mother, she would've have been a fantastic mayor." Ray said, with genuine condolences. "The city has suffered in the last two years, and with the company's deep roots in it, it's not a surprise this company has suffered with it. I considered renaming the building, but Queen Consolidated seemed fitting."

_Am I supposed to thank him for it?_Oliver reverted to his default poker face, before his irritation showed.

"I believe the city is due for rejuvenation", Palmer went on with zeal as if he was describing the first sunrise ever, "a re-birth, literally from the ashes. The time is ripe for change, a new era. I also have numerous plans for Starling City, even to go as far as to rename it."

Bafflement crossed Oliver's face. "Rename it?"

The PowerPoint slide changed to an image of Starling's business district at sunset as it was seen from across the bay. Ray's hand followed the path of the shooting star that trailed above the skyscrapers.

"Star City", he proclaimed. Even from across the room Oliver could see the intensity in Palmer's dark eyes.

"It has the potential to become its new namesake, with QC at the forefront of its development".

Oliver Queen opened his mouth to say something, what exactly he had no conceivable idea whatsoever, what _could_he tell Ray Palmer after learning the man wanted to wipe the existence of Starling City from the face of the Earth—when there was a knock on the door and Felicity popped her head in and saved him.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Queen your 5 o clock is here".

He cleared his throat and stood, buttoning his suit jacket. "Pardon me, Mr. Palmer I have to take my leave".

"Of course, of course, I was the one who barged in on you" Ray chuckled, back to his amiable, cool, demeanour. In a few quick strides he came over for a handshake. "But this meeting is far from over. Nevertheless, I look forward to working with you. I hope you will take my bid into further consideration".

Ray offered his hand to Felicity, his face and voice softening. "Ms. Smoak, I hope to see you again in the near future."

Oliver narrowed his eyes at Palmer; because he was a hundred percent sure the entrepreneur was flirting with her. It felt like a year until Ray finally let go of her hand and left. Glancing at her sideways he saw a small smile playing on her lips.

Once he was gone, Felicity went straight to the point, "So?"

"No".

If he presumed that was the end of the discussion it was not, as they got into the elevator and made their way out of QC, Felicity began advocating Ray's bid. "Before you make up your mind I did some digging on Ray Palmer and Palmer Industries. He graduated from Ivy University, double major in astrophysics and electrical engineering, first class honours, has a decent background with no previous connections to your family. He's been described as a tech-genius, has multiple patents to his name. Is a leading figure in nanotechnology and oh!"—she held up her index to indicate she'd remembered a particularly exciting piece of information, "—he's _also_ an animal rights activist, he donated a chuck of money to save this elephant sanctuary in—"

Oliver stuffed his hands into his pockets, and interrupted her concurrent offload of unimportant information -which sounded a lot like how Thea used to talk about crushes over the phone to her GF's.

"He was arrogant and presumptuous; acted like he already owned the place".

She shook her head, incredulous, "But he's exactly what you need—look, let's ignore his personality. Palmer Industries is a tech conglomerate based in Seattle, it isn't that established but it's successful. I hacked into their databases—what_?_" She demanded when he froze on the sidewalk and raised a questioning brow at the IT girl.

"I wanted to be extra thorough this time Oliver, after… you know". Felicity shrugged it off as if it was the most obvious thing she could have done, and it was, he wouldn't have expected anything less from her, _you're an idiot Ollie, she checked his backstory to make sure he wasn't another Isabel, not for some crush_.

"Anyway, their projected quarterly income for the next year and a half would be enough to buy QC twice."

He sighed in undisguised exasperation. "Of course it would be its open season. The investors are desperate for stability. Besides, any of the dozens of bidders we saw had similar financial profiles. And I can't shake the feeling he has an ulterior motive. The last time someone showed interest in our applied sciences division-" he lowered his volume to a whisper "-we had to bomb the place. And it's not just that, he has this bizarre idea to rename Starling City."

Stunned, Felicity took his elbow to stop him after keeping up with his long strides, "Seriously?"

He waved off her question, there was other business to attend too, "It's not important now, I don't have a 5 clock meeting so what's up?"


	2. Big Guns

_September 8__th_

_The Foundry, Starling City 18:01 PM PST_

As they walked into the Foundry, he heard the familiar sound of the salmon ladder bar and rungs clanging together. Roy was training, and he had been training very hard over the past several months, Oliver wanted to tell the young man he was proud of him but he hadn't reached that level of brotherhood with him just yet. Roy was swinging to gain momentum, he'd made it passed four rungs, as he tried for the fifth the bar missed and he fell onto the concrete with a groan and a thump.

"Roy!" Felicity's heels clacked as she hurried to the young man on the floor, "are you ok?"

He stood and rubbed his shoulder, nodding_. _

"One day buddy", said Oliver with an amused smile. Roy was excelling in his training; this version of him was far more skilled and focused than the mirakuru-induced version.

He still needed to perfect his aim and parkour manoeuvres, but his street savvy knowledge was an asset in itself and had helped them on several occasions. Oliver found himself enjoying the company of the younger archer during their missions; they'd established a rhythm he was pleased with. However, the topic of 'Thea' was off-limits between the hero and his young apprentice, and Roy had no clue of the rampage he'd gone on during his drugged phase, and Oliver was reluctant to break it to him.

They heard a squeal, turning they saw Felicity balancing herself on the computer desk as if she had nearly fallen, and then picking up a forgotten tennis ball off the floor.

"Oops sorry, must have missed that one" said Roy with a sheepish look and retrieved it from her hand.

"Yeah, you missed a _few_" she grumbled finding another two beside the computer tower. "I appreciate that you're using your free time to train, which apparently you have a lot of" Felicity added with a hint of disdain, "but please keep your toys away from my computers, just keep everything over there and we won't have an issue, got it?" She scolded, pointing to the training space.

Oliver could sense the frustration beneath her reasonable tone. The IT girl worked with the outmost efficiency, and had put a large amount of effort into maintaining and upgrading the Foundry's system, some of it which she had done with her own money. To have it littered with tennis balls annoyed her beyond sense, but it was understandable.

Roy held his hands up, "Sorry mum" he snarked and Felicity narrowed her eyes at him, not finding the situation funny at all.

Before this could boil into an argument, he stepped towards her chair keeping his tone friendly, "Moving_ on_. What do you have for us, Felicity?"

"You weren't going to start without me were you?" A voice they all knew well said from behind them. Diggle strolled into the lair with a bright smile on his face. The team had not seen him in a fortnight as he spent quality time with Lyla in preparation for their baby.

"Diggle!" Felicity exclaimed, giving him a quick hug clearly ecstatic to see him.

"I was worried these two would tear one another apart without me" he joked, gesturing between Felicity and Roy.

Feigning nonchalance, Felicity shrugged, "Nope not at all, nothing to worry about".

"It's good to have you back, Digg" said Oliver, truly glad to see his friend, though a pang of guilt hit him as he realized what he had to discuss with the soldier after the tonight's mission was complete.

"Check this out" John turned on the news, the crime rate in the city was the lowest it had ever been in two decades. "Crime is close to zero in the city. Soon, there are only gonna be types of criminals left, the ones we put away and the ones that are running scared".

"We're getting there, some are still hiding" said Oliver.

"So who're we crossing off the List tonight?" John asked, rubbing his hands together, looking forward to the adventure.

Their attention was focused on Felicity as she pulled up the information for the briefing. "Partners Matthew Flint and Vern Skinner, owners of the Wildcat Boxing Ring. Ted Grant's the local heavy-weight boxing champion there".

An image of a silver stadium lit in blue lighting appeared on the larger monitor, a wildcat logo growling above the main entrance. The name Ted Grant in particular was familiar to Oliver.

"_The _Ted Grant?" He burst out like an excited child, surprising his team and himself. "I'll never forget his first pro-match". How could he? It was one of the fondest memories he'd had with his father. "He struck his opponent out in under a minute! If anyone can solve a problem with their fists it's definitely this guy. Le-_gend_" he enunciated, pumping his fist in the air.

Felicity glanced at him with a bemused smile, "I've never seen you fan boy about another man before". She caught his eye for a second, before gesturing back to the monitors.

"Anyway, so after surveillance and a few recon missions, I found this".

They studied the video reel and caught what she had discovered; guns, lots of them being loaded onto a truck from an obscured backdoor entrance of the stadium.

"They're using the stadium as a front for illegal arms dealing" deduced Diggle.

"Another fishy piece of information", she clicked another tab which opened a police report and news story. "Grant's mentor Ellis Smith aka 'the Socker' was murdered two days ago in his home. Poison apparently, one of the prime suspects is Grant himself".

Oliver found this too much of a coincidence; Flint and Skinner's handiwork was definitely all over this. But then something else Felicity said caught his attention.

"Wait… we never went on recon missions to Wildcat Stadium" he frowned at her.

She gave a casual shrug, "I took the initiative".

"Felicity!"

Both Roy and Diggle were snickering at his loud reprimand, neither one was as shocked as he was that she had conducted research without their knowledge. He wasn't annoyed that she had taken initiative; he had just assumed she had gone over to the Boxing ring and spied on them herself, putting herself in danger, and he couldn't allow that. She quickly disproved this.

The IT girl waved her hand in dismissal. "Don't worry Oliver, it was _unsurprisingly _easy to spy on them" she said, almost bored. "I just 'borrowed' NSA satellite footage, compiled data from street cameras and hacked into Skinner's phone records, easy-peasy". Unable to argue with any part of her sentence he stayed quiet.

"All you guys have to do is take the muscle over there and stop Flint and Skinner".

_Oh we're just the muscle now are we? _He wanted to tease, but then Diggle read out a news alert on his phone.

"I think that's going to be a problem, the stadium's going to be full tonight. Ted Grant's final boxing match, before he retires for good".

"Then we'll need to be very quiet" he said flatly.

"Alright, Diggle, Roy, search the Stadium's storage and facilities for the weapons. I'll handle Flint and Skinner and find out if they had anything to do with Ellis Smith's murder".

With a plan in motion the team started getting ready.

Mentor and apprentice were changing side by side. Roy was putting his red mask over his eyes. Oliver noticed the rack of untouched flechettes in Roy's bag. "Aren't you going to bring these?" He asked.

Roy shook his head, "Where am I going to put them?"

He frowned in mild surprise, the answer was easy; "In your quiver of course" he zipped his jacket up. "As an archer you should consider it an advantage to literally carry a bag around, leaves the rest of the body free so we can turn side to side and aim with fluidity. The enemy can come out from anywhere, and these could come in handy". Oliver handed the flechettes to Roy.

"I haven't practised throwing them" said the younger archer doubtfully placing them in his red quiver.

"I remember when you used one to stop Joseph Falk from killing you, you just have to aim" he advised. _That was my first encounter with Roy, _he realized with a touch of pride, _look where he is now. _

Oliver breathed out and flexed his fingers in their leather gloves. He needed to relax his muscles for the same reason as he'd told his apprentice, to 'aim with fluidity'. He directed the surge of adrenaline within him to calm and focus himself. Only when he felt the tension leave his shoulders that he knew they were ready.

Together they strapped their quivers over their shoulders and then their bows. The synchronization was uncanny. Flint and Skinner had no idea what force was coming to them.

Emerging from the back he found himself looking at Felicity across the room. She was magnetizing and it was not the first time he'd ever felt drawn to her. He would have liked to say it was merely because he cared deeply for her and that was true for every member of his team. But there was something about Smoak, she was both invigorating and distracting, and he couldn't help it, ever since they put Slade on the island…

Felicity turned in her chair and caught him staring, then stood and approached him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So are you going to put the fear of God into Grant's sinister managers or just ask them if they killed Ellis Smith?" But she already knew the answer.

Oliver gave her a wicked smile, "I'll ask nicely".

She chuckled and smiled softly, then looked at her shoes as if she was contemplating something. Reaching out she clasped his forearm. "This probably goes without saying, since I've been saying it a lot but—be careful".

He put his hands over hers and squeezed it gently, he shouldn't make any false promises, especially in this business, but she needed to hear it, and he would do that for her.

"I will".

Glancing at his other teammates lingering, he swiftly retreated from her and retrieved his comm device off the table. It was time to go.

* * *

_Wildcat Boxing Stadium, Starling City 19:22 PM PDT_

"Ladies and Gentleman! Good Evening and welcome to the Wildcat Boxing Ring! Tonight is _the _night where two rivals fight to prove who the real champion is!" The commentator announced from the centre of the ring, the spectators roared and gave a thunderous applause.

From the front row seats to the nose bleed section, the stadium was packed. Felicity could practically see the adrenaline and anticipation radiating off of them from her screens. She could feel some of it in her too.

"On your left, all the way from Keystone City, it's Luke 'The Lion' Atterson!" The commentator held out his left hand to one corner of the ring. The aforementioned boxer thrust his gloved fist in the air, inciting an enthusiastic fan base to scream and cheer whilst holding up posters of their favourite boxer.

"And on your right, Starling's very own, three time heavy-weight boxing champion, it's Ted 'The Wildcat' Grant!"

Wildcat threw his gloved hands up, the crowd went wild, and from the numerous purple and white Wildcat paraphernalia present, it was obvious his fans occupied most of the seats. Felicity wondered if Oliver would have attended the legendary boxer's final match if he wasn't currently busy being the Arrow.

"The match is starting soon" she told them over the comms. Their communication system had been upgraded with the addition of Roy to the team. She could switch between the three men, or speak to at least two of them when it was required, and so could they.

...

"Where should I go?" Roy asked as he drove on his motorbike down Jefferson Avenue. In the beginning his costume had made squeaky noises and was uncomfortable to move in, but now it might as well be second skin.

He was in the zone and he really didn't want to mess up. Half because he wanted to show Oliver that his vigilante skills were improving, and half for himself. He had come far since Slade's attack on the city and…Thea. He was so engrossed in being a hero that it was hard to imagine his life outside of the costume, and remembering life before Thea was even harder because it was nothing he ever wished to return too.

Some days it was easy to delve into training and forget her, wherever she was in Europe back-packing… but other days, it as painful as taking an arrow to the knee.

_"Take a left at Jefferson Avenue, there should be an enclosure of trees fenced off from the street" _Felicity instructed, and he snapped back to the mission.

"Is it guarded?" He inquired, parking in a nondescript corner; he could see the enclosure and Digg's van nearby.

Diggle answered, he had arrived before Oliver or Roy for surveillance, _"affirmative, two guards. Hold up, there's a truck coming to the garage door, wanna bet it's carrying over a hundred MK-47 rifles?"_

"That's a bet anyone would lose" said Roy.

_"How do we know these guards are in on the arm's dealing? They could just be stadium security"_ Diggle wanted to know.

Oliver appeared over the comms, _"we don't, just do what's necessary"._

...

He parked his bike in an unobtrusive across the parking lot, Felicity reporting in his ear. "_Oliver, the offices are on the third level, only Flint's inside there though, I have eyes on Skinner he's watching the match from the bleachers."_

"Anyway we can get him away from the match? I'd like to hit two birds with one stone if possible" he asked running towards the stadium.

The IT girl had to correct him, _"in your case an arrow, but whatever you want. I'll send a message to Skinner's phone". _

The side door opened easily. "I'm in the building", Oliver nocked an arrow and readied it. Felicity checked the cameras; currently the hallways were empty of threats she informed, he lowered his bow.

_"There should be a fire staircase, third door on your left. I've tricked Skinner to go to the training facilities below ground."_

Then Diggle entered their conversation, _"Oliver they're setting up a trade right now"._

"Stop it Digg! Roy get Flint, I've got Skinner."

The training facilities were dimly lit but he was trained to move in the pitch black. He padded stealthily amongst exercise equipment towards the basement window that let in pale blue light. The sound of running footsteps outside made him move faster, he stayed in the shadows, waiting.

...

Vern Skinner was puffing and sweating having run from his seat in the ring all the way down to the gym. He spun around looking for Flint in the darkness to demand what the hell was going on that he had to exert himself so strenuously.

"Flint, where the hell are you?" He flicked the light switch on. The sound of glass shattering made him spin as the gym fell back into darkness.

"What the—"

And into the slate of light, the Arrow stepped forward.

"Vern Skinner, you have failed this city!" He intoned, God-like.

Vern emitted a something that sounded like a squeak. Fumbling for the walkie-talkie in his suit pocket he made a run for it as the Arrow leapt from his ledge gracefully.

"_Shit!_ Warren! It's the Arrow, it's—he's _here _you morons! Get—GAHH!"

The walkie-talkie that was in his hand a moment ago was now pinned by an arrow to the wall. Cautiously he turned; squeezing his eyes shut, and held his hands up in surrender.

...

"I know about the weapons Vern, and it ends tonight, call off the deal!" The Arrow demanded.

Vern stumbled on his words, until he finally managed, "I-I can't—"

"Oh _really?" _Oliver taunted and loosed two arrows at the manager's feet making Skinner perform a little dance for him.

"Flint's in charge of that I never wanted anything to do with—"

"Betraying your partner already? I have a feeling _you _killed Ellis Smith!"

"Ellis Smith?" Vern asked, confused, fear making him forgetful, but then he remembered.

"He found out what you were doing and you killed him, with poison!" The Arrow had found it effective to attack his targets with direct and incriminating questions.

Vern shook his head adamantly, "It wasn't, we—"

Again, it was Diggle who talked over the comms to all of them, _"Oliver, we've got a problem, the cops are here. Get out now!" _

Only Felicity could tell them exactly why the cops were here, _"The police are swarming the ring, and they're arresting Ted Grant!" _

The Arrow stepped closer to Vern, as it was with most of the names of the List, he found himself truly enraged by their nefarious actions. "You framed Ted Grant for the murder of Ellis Smith!" He smacked Skinner across the face with his bow, only hard enough to make the manager fall to his knees.

It was enough that Vern confessed, "Smith _knew!_ But I didn't want him to _die!_ We misjudged the potency of the poison, and Ted, he found out, we had to—"

"Transfer the deed for the Stadium to Ted Grant, and confess to the murder of Smith, stop dealing weapons and you won't have to get a second visit from me, deal?" He said with menacing tones whilst pointing an arrow in Vern's face. Seeing that the mission was successful, his ear caught the cry of police sirens. It was time he left.

"D-Deal" mumbled Vern, but the Arrow was gone.

...

Oliver clambered up the stair case taking three steps at a time to get the ground floor. He regretted having spent too much time with Skinner. He froze when Felicity shouted; _"Not up the stairs! The whole perimeter is packed with cops!"_

He cursed, "I'm stuck in the stair well."

Her eyes scanned for another safe exit on the cameras, but unfortunately there wasn't one, unless…

_"There's always the—"_

"—Window, got it" he finished, retreating a few steps to get a running start. He sprinted and covered his upper body and face with his arms just as he crashed into the glass, there was a weightless sensation that ended quickly as he landed lightly on his feet.

Broken glass was still raining on him when Oliver heard gunfire.


	3. Exile

Meanwhile Roy had to deal with a locked office door, taking a step back he balanced himself and kicked it open. He ducked as a bullet flew over his head. Rolling on the floor to make himself a smaller target, Roy loosed an arrow and knocked the gun out of Flint's hand. He sprung back onto his feet and met Flint with a nocked arrow.

"Matthew Flint" he growled.

"Dammit, the sidekick!"

...

Diggle had knocked out the four guards and the driver when a second truck barraged towards him nearly running Digg over. "Guys, there's another truck leaving the garage, I'm in pursuit" Diggle told them, but the information was mainly directed at Roy, and he knew what to do with it.

"Where's the truck going?" He asked Flint.

The manager scoffed, scowling at Roy even though he had surrendered. "I'm not telling you a _thing, _kid". Between the two partners, it seemed Flint was the braver one.

_It's really annoying when they don't cooperate _he thought, releasing the arrow that shattered the window behind Flint to reiterate that he wasn't fucking joking.

"_Answer_ the question. WHERE?"

...

Half a dozen of Skinner's goons were shooting at Oliver and he needed to get to his bike across the parking lot.

He loosed arrows at them, disarming and incapacitating three armed men, but they were gaining on him. Two got close; he swept their feet from under them and then punched the last one in the shoulder with an arrow. The area had no coverage other than a few slim lamp posts and low walls. He started towards one when four men attacked him from his side.

Instinctively, he ducked beneath a punch; his hand reached and twisted the gun out of the attacker's wrist. While holding on to his arm, he spun and roundhouse kicked another in the gut, before returning and punching first guy in the throat.

There was another gun waving in his face, he held the upper and lower limbs of his bow and slammed the grip up the goon's chin. Oliver brought his leg down on his forearm, the gun flying out of his hand. He heard the scuff of feet and sensed another henchman sneaking up on him, but as he spun to face the man—

There was a flash of blonde hair, he saw a familiar bo staff spinning, and with a single strike the Canary whacked the henchman unconscious. And with that, the fight was over.

Momentarily in shock, he just stared at the assassin he thought he would never see again. Sara went to perch on a low wall, her left hand placed casually on her hip and her staff resting across the back of her neck. Everything about her was the same, head to toe. He thought he must be imagining things, but then she spoke.

"Don't look so surprised, I haven't been gone that long" Sara smiled enigmatically at him.

"_Is that Sara?"_ Felicity asked excitedly, he forget she could hear everything. He immediately disconnected it. To Felicity this was just Sara, an honorary member of their team, an old friend. But seeing her perched on the wall, having come out of nowhere was the first truly unexpected and surprising event to have occurred in his nightlife in _months_, and that was saying a lot_. _Oliver treaded cautiously here; after the island, the League was Sara's salvation and being freed from it meant she had a choice to go back or remain in Starling, and she chose the former.

It was five months since he last saw her and he still couldn't wrap his head around her reasoning for re-joining the League, but maybe it was just him being attached to the Sara he'd lost on the island.

They'd gone through the same experience of pain, loss, and survival, and when she re-appeared in Starling, he'd found comfort in that familiarity. But whatever happened after the freighter had changed her, the lessons they took from their years away were completely different. Trying to make her follow in his footsteps had been unwise, but he wasn't sure whether he would ever be content with what she ended up choosing as her destiny. He wanted to find the light within him, but she wanted to embrace the darkness, it was what made them polar opposites in some respects, and apparently he was just going to have to deal with that.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded, unable to contain his forcefulness, she was still a good person but being an international _assassin _meant her morals were somewhat in the grey zone.

It didn't bother Sara though; she gave a noncommittal shrug, "I have business in town".

"League business?" He asked not bothering to disguise his disapproval.

"Maybe" was all she replied, narrowing her eyes at his tone, "I was in the neighbourhood and thought you might need my help, you're welcome by the way" she snarked.

Oliver wasn't about to thank her, he could've handled the henchman on his own.

"But enough about me how's the rest of the team?"

"Good" he said simply. Sara jumped onto the concrete and twirled her bo-staff, smirking.

"Finally ask Felicity out on a date?"

"We—_what?"_

It took him a few seconds to register her words, shocked at her blunt statement.

"Don't tell me you haven't been thinking about it" she teased playfully. Oliver tensed, he was never one to discuss his feelings and he was definitely not going to have this conversation with his ex.

Diggle's and Roy's chatter over the comms caught Oliver's attention, he wanted to quiz her on why she was in Starling or merely ask how she was doing, but as it was, he had time to do neither.

"Can't talk right now, I have an arms deal to stop."

Sara scoffed, "sheesh, chill out, you've been crossing _pages _off the list, Ollie; this is just another day in the job. I'm glad everything's been working out for you".

At her words he softened his stance, they had mutual respect for one another and he knew she would never harm the city or anyone close to them, whom he did not trust however, was her…employer.

He gave a slight nod to her, "it was nice to see you again Sara, stop by the Foundry if you're 'business' doesn't keep you too busy".

"Will do. Good Luck."

Once he reached his bike, he gave a passing glance to where they met, but she was gone as if he really had imagined her. Who knew if they'd ever see each other again?

...

Oliver's comm had gone off for a few minutes and Felicity didn't like being not clued in, when it blinked to tell her he was back online, she immediately voiced her complaint.

"_Hey, you cut me off, what did Sara say?" _

"She says hi" he said quickly and changed the subject. "Felicity where's that truck?"

"Flint says it's heading south out of town" Roy said as he landed on the ground after the interrogation. Following the window-shattering incident, Flint fessed up.

"Felicity?" Oliver asked, requiring confirmation as he started his bike.

"_Flint's not lying; it's on 82__nd__ Street south-east bound"._

As Digg checked in, the sound of gunfire rang loudly into all their ear pieces.

"A little help you guys, I'm getting shot at!" He growled; trying to balance the wheel with one hand, dodge bullets, swerve left and right to avoid incoming cars and fire his own gun. The gunmen had military rifles that shot rounds of infinite bullets, and all he had was a lonely glock to fend them off.

"We're on our way."

* * *

_82__nd__ Street 20: 17 PM PST_

Felicity monitored the trackers on the archers and the soldier, _"Do you like Italian?" _Oliver asked over the comm randomly.

"What?" Why on Earth was he talking about food preferences right now?

_"Italian, everyone likes Italian right?"_ He repeated as if they were having a normal conversation face to face.

"Oliver you're in the middle of a high speed chase" she reminded him.

_"I'm multitasking". _

The two archers were speeding down the road; it didn't take long for them to see Diggle following closely behind a large black truck. The truck's back doors were flapping ajar; two men with rifles were crouched in the compartment and were shooting at the solider. John, upon seeing his back-up arriving slowed down slightly and stayed on the right side of the truck, as Oliver drove in beside him.

"Open the door!" The Arrow called, he didn't have time to think over the crazy request as he opened the passenger door. Oliver reached up and grabbed onto the door frame, swinging onto the seat, his bike discarded; toppling across the sidewalk.

"Hey Digg" he greeted as if it was Sunday morning brunch.

John's jaw clenched, the military taught him to control his emotions in times of distress, but this team had ways of making him lose it. "Of course Oliver, make yourself comfortable" But he didn't have a chance to finish his rant as the hero went to the back of the van and opened the sun window, thereafter climbing onto the roof of the van. "Get closer to the truck!"

_Don't tell me he's going to do it, _Digg thought, driving the van parallel to the truck, _Oh he's going to do it. _The Arrow leapt and latched onto the truck's roof and then pulled himself up.

"_There's a roadblock incoming"_ Felicity reported.

"_Oh, my God!"_ She screamed as bullets flew upwards out of the roof of the truck, chasing after Oliver as he sprinted to the front.

Roy used two well-aimed flechettes to immobilise the riflemen, but he did_ miss_ a few times though as some punctured the back-right tire, deflating it rapidly.

Diggle cursed in fury as the truck lost control sending Oliver flying off of it, "Roy! Don't shoot the tires while Oliver's _on _the goddamn truck!"

"_I didn't mean to-" _

The Starling Archer dangled on the side of the truck, gripping with his life before he could become Arrow pancake. With both hands he tugged himself back onto the roof before a passing car could knock him off like a fly on a windshield.

"I'm fine" he growled, feeling a tinge of guilt at causing Felicity worry.

He continued to the driver compartment and dodged a bullet that fired through the roof. He held onto the window frame and swung his legs in, kicking the driver and punching the passenger unconscious. If he hadn't torn his gaze from them he would've surely missed what he saw next.

His stomach lurched as the concrete construction roadblock rushed to meet him. Somehow his hands found the steering wheel; he slammed the brakes and turned the wheel a sharp right. The tires shrieked from the friction and he could feel the weight of the large attached container tipping over.

The truck skidded to a halt and he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

* * *

_The Foundry, the Glades, 21: 29 PM PST_

When Oliver walked into the Foundry, Felicity stormed to him. "What on Earth did you think you were _doing?"_ The IT girl demanded hotly, flinging her arms up.

"Why would you jump off the roof of a speeding vehicle onto the roof of _another_ speeding vehicle while men shoot bullets at you?! I was half-expecting Arrow-road kill!"

He gestured to his general person, and then held out empty hands, "Not a scratch".

She huffed and pursed her lips, "I asked you to be careful" she reminded coldly, her initial anger simmering.

He sighed and titled his head slightly to her, "I was...relatively" he added to her annoyance. It was not the time to be teasing her but he couldn't help it, he was in a good mood, besides she kind of looked…interesting when she was mad at him. Felicity shouldered passed him and sat back at her computer. The team looked at him, waiting for the debriefing.

"Good work tonight everyone".

Diggle snorted, "except for that stunt Roy pulled".

"Hey, it was a moving target and I missed, in the end, it stopped them from shooting at you didn't it?" Roy snapped earning himself a grudging glare from the soldier. Neither wanted this to move over the threshold and into an argument, yet both felt the need to go into defensive mode.

Oliver waved his hand dispassionately, "Don't worry about it" he assured his protégé, "you're new to this and mistakes will happen. Tonight was a victory."

"The night's still early" John said.

Needing to work off some energy after that almost-confrontation, Roy swiped his bow off the table, "I'm going on patrol".

"Have fun" Oliver called to him. He glanced at the remaining team members putting their belongings away for the night. He went and got his suit from that afternoon, having no other clothes in the lair, and changed as well.

After Oliver changed, Felicity walked to the two men in the room. "So how's Sara?" She wanted to know.

"She looks good."

Apparently this was news to John, "You met Sara?"

"She's in town, but wouldn't tell me why." And that was all he wanted to say concerning the matter, in fact, it was all he got from her. John seemed to understand this and moved on to more important questions.

"What happened with Skinner? Grant's still in lock up at the station under murder charges."

"Flint and Skinner killed Ellis Smith; we need to prove Grant's innocence." At that notion Felicity suddenly returned to her computers and started searching for something. John saw the look Oliver gave him and took the hint to give them some space.

Oliver approached the blonde and rested one hand on the desk. He licked his lips, mustering the apology by letting some of his pride slip. "I'm sorry I made you worry" he managed to say feeling a weight lighten in his chest.

Felicity pushed her glasses up her nose and sighed exasperatedly, "yeah could you stop doing that?" She softened her gaze at the earnest expression on his countenance.

"It's alright Oliver. We stopped them and that's all that matters."

He shook his head in disappointment, "not yet, they framed Ted Grant for Ellis Smith's murder—"

"I actually have a solution for that" said Felicity, a smile tugging at her lips and inadvertently at his own too. She clicked 'play' on a sound file.

_"You framed Ted Grant for the murder of Ellis Smith!"_

_"Smith knew! But we didn't want him to _die_! We misjudged the potency of the poison, and Ted, he found out, we had to—"_

With a triumphant grin spreading ear-to-ear, she folded her legs and stopped the sound clip. "I recorded the whole thing".

A little surprised, his eyes widened, "our comms can do that?"

"I tweaked them a little bit, so now they can. Give this to the police and Ted Grant is exonerated…" She ceased talking when Oliver sighed and leaned his head back to look at the ceiling; he was chuckling to himself. _Out of all the cubicles I could've walked into, I walked into hers, if I believed in luck that's what I would've called it. _

"What?" She asked in confusion, not finding the situation humorous.

He returned his attention to her and leaned in closer. She nearly edged away because of the abruptness of his movement, but she stayed where she was.

"You never fail to impress me, you know that?" He whispered staring at her; it was something he thought she needed to know.

"No I didn't" she said.

Oliver made an honest-to-God smile, "You do, and often, you're amazing". He knew he was already too close, any closer and he probably wouldn't be able to control himself...

She blushed and held his gaze, "you've never mentioned that before".

The trance ended when Oliver heard Diggle loudly zipping his bag, half of him wanted to shove the solider out the door as fast as possible, but the other half knew there was still something he needed to do, even if it would hurt him and his friend. "I need to talk to Digg alone, do you mind…?" He trailed off as she glanced at John then back at him, and nodded.

"No" she whispered. He retreated reluctantly from her so she could stand.

"See you tomorrow. Bye John".

Diggle saw her leaving and waved goodbye as she shut the door.

Oliver swallowed, gathering his courage; he stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets as if that gave him nerve—or protection, considering what he was about to say to the ex-solider.

"How's Lyla? I forgot to ask earlier." He began casually, desiring to remain reasonably calm throughout the conversation.

John snickered. "She's doing great. But I'm absolutely hopeless at predicting what kind of mood she'll be in. First it's" here he imitated a whiny demanding voice "'John, you can't do anything right, go away'", then it's, "get me ice cream, now!"'

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

His friend smiled in a surge of happiness, "it's a girl." To see the soldier overjoyed by the thought of his unborn child touched an odd, unexplored, fatherly heart string inside Oliver.

He had to return that smile, even though his stomach was flipping over on itself. "I'm happy for you, and with the patience and guidance you've shown, I'm absolutely sure you'll be a great father, who will be there for his daughter. Always."

John's smile faltered, "Are you hinting at something here, Oliver? Is that why you told Felicity to leave?"

There was no turning back now.

Oliver hardened his gaze, "I can't have you in the field anymore."

At first Digg thought it was a joke, "Are you kidding me?"

"You're starting a family of your own. This job puts you at risk every day. Tonight you were in a high-speed car chase and got shot at multiple times, if one of those bullets had hit you—"

As it hit Diggle that Oliver was completely serious, he interrupted his boss, and not without growing frustration. "I don't need to be told how to do my job Oliver. As for the risks? I'm fully aware of them, Lyla knows them, and she understands. I never went into this blindly".

"Yes." He agreed, "But—I have to ask you to leave."

Digg's voice rose in volume, "This team started with you and me."

With that reminder Oliver almost retracted his words; he bit his lip and looked at the ground. He knew this was going to be hard, but he did not anticipate it to hurt as much as it did.

He hated arguing with Diggle, nevertheless he steeled himself and carefully told his friend; "I'm sorry John; I know you won't leave on your own. This is the only way."

John's hand was in a fist, for a moment he thought his partner was going to punch him. "You're making a mistake Oliver, what makes you think this is the best call for the team? For this city? I'm not the one who's in direct danger it's always been you."

"You've had my back for the past few years, and I—"

And John Diggle could not contain his anger anymore. He was normally a level-headed guy but this was pushing him off the edge. He invaded Oliver's personal space and stabbed a finger at him shouting loud enough that his voice echoed in the Foundry's rafters.

"Damn it Oliver! You would be dead ten times over if it wasn't for me! I told you once, that you were fighting a war; you wouldn't have beaten Malcolm if it wasn't for me. You wouldn't have survived or won if it wasn't for every single person on this team. You would still be a killer!"

His outrage intimidated him a little, but he didn't show it. The calm façade he'd held, cracked and he ended up shouting too;

"There is no more war to fight, Diggle!"

Several emotions passed over the soldier's countenance; rage of course, then shock, and then finally disbelief, complete and utter disbelief.

Shaking his head, John step away from the archer and snatched his bag. He about to leave but not before looking over his shoulder and fixing a stony stare on him, then saying;

"You're a damn fool if you think that."


	4. Identity Part 1

**Hello there! I hope you guys are enjoying the story. So this chapter contains lots of Olicity and our first Hong Kong flashback! I aim to do this for all the characters. There is also touch of Laurel in the beginning. Now I didn't like her arc in Season 2, but she is not totally irredeemable, and I aim to make you guys actually like her! I don't generally ship anyone, but am more focused on what I think works for the plot. While it appears that I ship Olicity it is only because the writers said that Oliver would explore their relationship. So I think this is relatively canon so far, even if it is mostly from my imagination and predictions. Felicity and Digg's current roles in Oliver's life are still a mystery to me but I think what I made up as their current positions work well enough. I apologize for any mistakes in the time scores and grammar and so on. I'm writing out as much as I can before school starts (starting university next week yikes!) and it takes time to plan and write out these chapters. I don't have an updating schedule but I will soon. Okay, enough about me! Hope you like the chapter :)**

_September 9__TH_

_Prince's Square, Starling City 15:44 PM PST _

He milled about the square situated between the Justice Courts, Bisque Museum, and Queen Consolidated. There was still a ball of guilt in his stomach after the argument with Diggle and it made him question whether he had made the right decision.

John had made reasonable points as to why he was wrong, but if he took Diggle away from his son he would never be able to forgive himself, this was the safest route to take. As a leader he needed to adhere to his judgements. 'If you are indecisive, no one will follow you', his father would lecture when he tried to goad Oliver's interest in QC, but of course, Oliver was more interested in his next female conquest.

The other members of the team were unaware of Diggle exclusion, but that was a problem for another day. The List was put on hold for the week while he focused on being Oliver Queen, on the business side, The Board of Directors were considering Palmer's bid. As for Oliver's personal life—

At that moment he spotted a familiar lean physique exiting the Justice Court. In a pristine white suit and briefcase, Laurel Lance walked across the square checking her phone.

"Laurel!" He called, causing her to spin; she was pleasantly surprised upon seeing it was Oliver.

"Ollie!" They hugged, "I haven't seen you since—"

"You locked up the Arrow's last target?" He supplied, with a hint of mischief in his eye that only two people sharing a secret could create.

She snickered and beckoned him to walk with her, she leaned closer and said, "you catch 'em, I cook 'em" there was undefeated pride in the way she said the words. "If you keep this up there wont be any criminals left for me to prosecute". The List cases had been going very well for the pair, Laurel was on a winning streak as a lawyer, and she had undeniably become one of the best in the city.

"How's your dad by the way? I heard he was promoted to Captain? That's good news, congratulations."

"Thanks" she said. Quentin deserved it after displaying astonishing leadership skills during Slade's attacks, and since being discharged from the hospital he had become a hero amongst the Starling police force. Crime rates were dropping, the police force was recovering, and Captain Quentin Lance had called off the Anti-Vigilante Task Force. Without the hindrance of SCPD, his Team could move more quickly through their manifesto, it may be his father's List but it was theirs now too.

"There's a lot of politics involved and he's not as hands on like he used to be as detective, but he has more control than he did before, which in my opinion, is an advantage for us."

"I agree".

"Did you ever think we'd end up as business partners?" She asked in wonderment.

"Then you're on the Ted Grant case I presume?"

Laurel took his arm and they stopped walking, "tell me you have something" she whispered eagerly, turning to face him to allow them more privacy.

It was not the first time they had traded unauthorized information concerning a name on the List, most of which was provided by the Arrow and Laurel's personal access to police records. Her forgiveness for his lies meant more than she would ever know. After the bottom she had hit last year proceeding Tommy's death, this was quite possibly the happiest he'd ever seen her in a very long time. After Diggle stormed off (he did not want to assume he had lost the solider as a friend as he would like to believe John would come around and forgive him eventually) he realized just how much he needed the support of those who believed in what he was doing.

The flash drive was deposited discreetly into her hand, "the Arrow's conversation with Vern Skinner, he confesses to poisoning Ellis Smith and to smuggling weapons out of Starling City with his partner Matthew Flint."

"Oh, my God" she exclaimed a little too loudly. "They're Ted's managers, he told me what they were doing, but he didn't have any proof that he was telling the truth, but now we do." She stated, holding the flash drive tightly in her first. He could see the cogs turning as she thought over the next step in the game plan to push for the win.

Distractedly, she waved farewell to him as she left in a hurry, "okay I have to go; I need to get this to the office. See ya."

Once she had disappeared, Oliver did not leave the square yet. Laurel was not who he was patiently waiting for on that idyllic afternoon. His tasks were not over and he definitely did not want to run from this. Last night, he'd tossed and turned in his bed wondering if it was the right time in his life to begin a relationship since he was and had always been absolutely terrible at keeping them.

The list of idiotic mistakes and hearts he'd broken verged on ridiculous. He was man, not a boy anymore, Purgatory taught him that. No longer could he remain in denial to their attraction, or use the city's protection and safety as an excuse, the city was at peace and he was ready. Thus, after several sleepless hours he came to a conclusion that if he didn't do it now he never would.

He glimpsed at his watch, _4 o clock, right on time, _he mused and turned to his right.

And there she was.

There was a spring in his step as he walked to her. She was searching for something in her bag, not even seeing him approaching. That boost of confidence he had felt was fading due to nerves but he kept easing forward. He put his hands his pockets and leaned to her as she nearly went right pass him.

"Felicity" he said beside her ear. Startled, she reared back clutching her purse closer to her, realizing it was only Oliver she sighed in relief. He fell into step with her.

"Oliver, hey, what are you doing in the business district?" Thinking it was inappropriate she began amending the statement, "I mean, you can be here if you want, but—"

"I don't work here anymore." He finished for her, in the past her ramblings might have exasperated him but now he knew it was just a trait of hers, and he didn't mind it anymore. "We do have a fake technology company that we're starting together remember? It's—"

"A great excuse, to be seen talking to me", she gave a little laugh, "I almost forgot about that."

"I saw Laurel a minute ago; she's the lawyer on Ted's case so—"

She nodded, "you were giving her the evidence… and I have no idea why I'm finish your sentences, or maybe you were finishing mine first?"

A goofy smile was threatening to tug his lips all the way up, but he tried to keep it at bay.

"I'm actually here to see you. Not about a fake technology company, or Arrow business, or Queen Consolidated."

Her brows furrowed in confusion, "then why?"

They stopped walking and he turned to face her. "Felicity, would you like to have dinner with me?"

He unleashed the smile, staring at her as she reacted to the words with mild surprise, but slowly a matching smile brightened her face too.

* * *

_Felicity's house, Starling City 19:45 PM PST _

_I shouldn't be this nervous, _Felicity told herself as she clasped the delicate strap of her heels, _it's just Oliver and dinner. Just Oliver and dinner, _she repeated in her head to calm herself.

Standing before the full-length mirror in her bedroom, Felicity Smoak examined her appearance. She had her hair down in soft waves, and no glasses. She smoothed down imaginary wrinkles on her dress, it was an ankle-length, red halter, with a deep neckline that made her feel beautiful and powerful, but at times feel like running for the hills at the realization that she was actually going on a date with Oliver Queen.

It wasn't like he was intimidating, though at moments he could be, but it was because she was the one who'd said they were 'unthinkable', and after the minimal response she received when they were on the island, she had started to believe that perhaps it was better if they just stayed good friends. Considering Oliver's track record with women and relationships on top of the stress of being the Arrow she did not want to risk her heart. She should give him more credit; he was not the same man he was before the island, who indulged in debauchery and casual sex (mind you, she was ignoring that senseless incident with Isabel Rochev.)

Any girl would be wary, especially she, since she had seen first-hand what he was like when he dated Sara; it had clouded his mind and they broke up. Her heart had hurt a little too much in the past year and it was not something she wanted to experience ever again, so the walls came up and that was the end of that. Or so she wanted to believe.

In the past five months, their relationship had shifted. And she found the wall she'd put between her heart and Oliver Queen was irrevocably crumbling, and there was nothing she could do to bring it back up. The names on the List were dwindling and he was different; he smiled much more nowadays that at one point it had become a tad unnerving. Last year it was true, she cared deeply for him, everyone around her saw it, even Oliver, she would've never thought that he cared too, enough to actually instigate this.

Alas here she was, steeling herself for the date with Oliver. Remembering that stupid smile he had on his face just four hours ago when he said the magic words brought butterflies to her stomach. She breathed in and out, staring at her reflection. She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the doorbell ring and his voice on the other side of the door.

"You're a little early" she called, stopping at the foyer mirror for a quick final glance, and then turned the door handle, swinging it open as he said;

"Its 7:59, I'm on—" He seemed to forget what he was going to say as he caught sight of her.

"You picking me up like this, kind of reminds me of my senior prom, and FYI, that young adult milestone was a huge disappointment" she told him with her usual quirkiness.

Oliver was still staring as if she'd grown another head, but then she grasped he was checking her out, and not stopping; heat pooled into her stomach and rose to her cheeks. She closed the door behind her and tentatively stepped closer biting her lip, "Okay if you don't stop staring at me like that, my cheeks are going to turn the same color as my dress."

"You look amazing" he breathed his eyes taking their time, "I guess I never noticed how good you looked in red…" Then his eyes met hers directly and he faltered, "I-I'm sorry I'll stop looking— I mean not for the entire night, because obviously I can't do that". Felicity gave a little nervous laugh and smiled shyly, and it hit him that he was reverting to his playboy ways and immediately corrected his words.

"—But if it's making you uncomfortable then I'll try not to" he said threading his arm through hers. He considered himself confident man, but apparently Felicity could reduce him to babbling, this was definitely a first. She was studying him as if she noticed the change too. He pulled her towards the car, rubbing his face to hide his embarrassment. "Um, I don't even know what I'm trying to say anymore. Let's just go"

He drove them to _La Maisonette_, a five star French restaurant in the business district; he had never taken a girl out to eat here, mostly because he had never been interested in simply taking girls out for dinner, but also because he didn't want to jinx tonight by taking her somewhere he'd taken a previous date. He wanted to turn over a new leaf.

"Have you ever come here before?" He asked as he handed his car keys to the valet. Ever the gentleman he held the door open for her.

"Once, but not on date" she said as the maître d' showed them to their table. Oliver was tempted to reach out to her, brush her fingers with his, but he didn't, worried he'd spook her if he did.

"So, we're having a candlelight dinner?" Said Felicity, smiling, seeing the tall candlebra in the center of the table. He stared blankly at a loss at what she meant by that.

"I requested it" he replied flatly.

"I didn't know you were a romantic at heart, Oliver" she teased, taking the seat across from him.

"I can be when I want too, and I want too for you" he told her, but it was too intense, she blushed and averted her gaze, and then they fell into an awkward silence. A waiter put two menus in front of the couple and he was thankful for the mild distraction. The light from the candles drenched them in faint gold and brought out the redness of her lips, his heart clenched a little at her loveliness.

"Do you want to eat? Okay, that was a stupid question, of course you do that's what we're here for; we're at a table, in a restaurant, with two menus opened in front of us." He stated pointing at each blatantly obvious thing he'd listed like an idiot.

Where the hell was this coming from? It was like he was pulling out all the words from his ass, acting like a complete dork. If any of the girls he'd dated before had seen him stumble and fail monumentally they would've—hold on, what was he thinking? This was _Felicity. _

He didn't want her to be uncomfortable, but the last thing he wanted was for her to be concerned about him. "Are you okay Oliver?" she asked, her brows furrowed. "We don't have to stay here the whole night if you don't want too. I know you said it was dinner but we can do whatever we want" she smiled.

Oliver nodded and sighed, "You're right, we can go back to my place afterwards, or yours". _I chose tonight to have a b__ad case of f__oot in the mouth syndrome? _He thought when her eyes grew large, "—or not! No, not to any of those places, I'm not suggesting anything" he affirmed shaking his head, wishing the menu was larger so he could hide his face behind it after that colossal fail.

As he stared holes into the wine selection he suddenly felt her fingers brush over his on the table, he lowered his menu.

"Oliver, you're nervous. Don't be." She told him with a reassuring smile, holding his gaze. She had her warm hand over his. His heart stopped hammering so fiercely and his muscles relaxed; he could feel the anxiety drain away instantly. She always knew how to make the situation better.

"I remember the first time we met" she mused, letting go of his hand.

He snickered, "I came to you with bullet holes in my laptop, and I told you my coffee shop was in a bad neighborhood."

"Oh you know what your worst cover story was?" He quirked a brow up, prodding her to go on, both back to their usual banter now that the jitters were gone.

"The energy drink in a syringe when you ran out of sports bottles, definitely the worst."

He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned at the memory, it was just that bad. They shared a laugh.

"I was under the influence of Vertigo; you can't blame me for running out of decent ideas."

She chuckled, "Thank God your lame cover stories have improved though."

"I knew you were too smart to believe any of them. Honestly, telling you the truth was one of the best decisions I ever made." And Oliver Queen meant each word wholeheartedly.

There was a nostalgic look in her eyes when she replied; "I could say the same about joining you. I'm glad that you trust me with your secrets."

He stopped smiling and bit his lip, she was glad? How could she be? When she didn't even know the half of it? He was lying to her face even now. He couldn't keep the five years all to himself, in the end they came back to bite him. With what he'd decided to become after those five years, his story was theirs as much as it was his, they had decided to join him and he couldn't lie to them anymore.

"There are still somethings you don't know about me" he said gravely.

She frowned, wondering when this had taken such serious turn but at the same time growing worried. The last time he _didn't_ tell them something; Slade Wilson had risen from the dead and popped up in his living room, and then all hell broke loose.

"Like what?"

His jaw tightened, he leaned forward and caged his fingers, watching her eyes intensely.

"The five years I was away, I wasn't always on Lian Yu".

Felicity's gaze widened slightly but other than that, her face remained impassive while slightly intrigued.

"Where were you?"

* * *

_2009_

_Hong Kong, Unknown Time_

The car door slammed shut. He had to take a moment to register the fact that he was _in _a car. Oliver plastered his face and hands against the window like a child at the aquarium, gaping at the skyscrapers in the sky line a sight he'd thought would never see again. The car rolled into traffic. After blinking in pure shock for several long moments, a desperate kind of happiness was making him giddy, yet he had an uneasy inkling that this was not at all what it seemed. He had learned on the island to always be prepared for the worst outcomes.

He turned to his captors, or were they his saviors? He very much doubted they were either of those.

"Where are we going? To the airport? Who are you people?" He demanded at the two in front of the Mercedes.

For a moment no one said a word, then the Chinese man in passenger seat in the front said; "Ask questions later."

His uneasiness consumed him and sent his primal instincts on high alert. He might be on a different island now, but nothing had changed, he still had to survive. He would never be safe until he was in Starling City again. Oliver tried to door handle but obviously it was locked. He shot scorching glares at his captors but none of them took notice of his growing agitation, in fact they pretended he wasn't even there. He spent the rest of the journey to who-the-hell-knows where on the edge of his seat prepared to attack if need be.

The car stopped in front of a white-washed dilapidated building in what he supposed was downtown Hong Kong, judging from the littered cramped streets and tangled power lines. The doors unlocked, and to his surprise none of the two men bothered to open the door for him, weren't they worried he'd run if they didn't restrain him? This was getting more perplexing by the second. Maybe these people weren't his enemies, but he wasn't about to fortify his opinion just yet. They waited for him to emerge and then -making a decision that he was sure he would regret later -allowed them to escort him inside, only the three of them, no one else.

Inside the elevator he took note of his escort, all Asian in black suits, with rigid standardized posture and expressionless faces, he wondered if they were military, whether they were trained in any martial arts. There was nothing on their clothing that suggested who they were; they were blank-slates to him. Each had holstered guns and he wondered if they were going use them on him, and then the doors slid open.

They stepped into a modern room, no windows, carpeted and decorated in dark, somber colors, it was an expansive office space, he could see sleek chrome computer in one corner as well tall servers blinking with little lights. Several men and women in navy blue cargo jumpsuits were at the desktops with comms in their ears, ignoring him completely. There was an insignia sewn on their breast pockets he didn't recognize.

A side door opened automatically, the same slender dark-skinned woman who'd given him the mind-boggling news that he was in Hong Kong walked out. The others clearly held her with high respect. She was the boss, her cold, emotionless countenance with its permanent scowl told him as much. He was over-flooded with questions.

"Why am I here?" He wanted to know, not bothering for needless pleasantries.

"My name is Amanda Waller, I am the Commander of A.R.G.U.S"

The name was familiar, but where did he hear it? He had no idea what the other part of her statement meant.

"Do you know who I am?" He demanded pointing at his chest. His father was a world-renown billionaire, they'd probably made headlines for months when the Gambit went missing, he struggled to remember whether Queen Consolidated had a branch here, and for the life of him he couldn't.

Amanda sized him up, and a faint smile brushed her lips, but it wasn't remotely amiable, in fact it was more of a sly, devious smile.

"What I see is Oliver Queen; son of billionaire Robert Queen, lost at sea in 2007 in the North China Sea. What you are, is a ghost."

"What?" He said, blinking at her in confusion, he didn't ask for a riddle he wanted answers, _real _answers. "My family is in Starling City, I need to go home, take me home" he said through gritted teeth, losing his patience and edging closer to her. The guards were watching him like hawks and followed his movements but did not intercept yet.

"I am not here to take you home Mr. Queen".

Everything around Oliver shattered into a million pieces, and in the broken fragments he could see Laurel, Thea, his mother, Tommy, all mourning for him, all hating him, all waiting for him.

_Not again, this _cannot _be happening again_! Everywhere he turned someone wanted something from him, someone wanted to destroy him. She didn't want to kill him, not yet anyway, because if she did she would've done so already. "What do you want from me?" He growled his fingers clawed at his sides, itching to feel her slim neck caged between them to squeeze the life out of her.

This was just business to Amanda Waller, she seemed to revel in his hurt and anger as if he had truly wronged her in the past, but what did he ever do to her? She glared at him.

"You caused a lot of problems for me during your time marooned on Lian Yu. More than you could ever imagine."

It hit him like a ton of bricks. "You were Robert Fyers employer" he shouted, stabbing a finger at her the truth rocking him, "you wanted to blow a commercial airplane out of the sky!" _Yao Fei, I may have failed your daughter, but I can avenge you now, this woman put both of you on that God-forsaken island. _Somehow he knew she was the one to blame for everything that happened on the island, for all he'd done.

The guards were closing in on him, sensing his murderous intent, and he was very much aware they all had guns to kill him with, but they were hesitant to stop him, but why? _Why? _And then quite simply she told him why;

"And you foiled my plans, but no longer will you be a problem for me…because you're going to work for me."

And Oliver Queen understood. There was not time to think, only act. He fake-lunged forward and a guard drew his gun; Oliver backtracked into him and elbowed him in the ribs as shots fired. He clasped the guard's wrist and aimed his hand up, bullets struck the ceiling. He twisted his wrist and threw him over his shoulder just in time to spin and kick the next hostile in the face. He worked fast and disarmed all of them, using all the skills he'd learnt from Slade, whilst whirling his head around to find an exit that wasn't the elevator. Once that was done, he ran and shoved Amanda to the floor as he leapt on the computer desks knocking and kicking everything in his wake. There was no way they did not have a fire escape, and blessedly he spotted one and sprinted towards it.

"Go!" She commanded a group of agents who'd emerged from the elevator and were met with the sight of their comrades on the floor. Her eyes were alight with fire. She stood and straightened her suit and told one agent in particular; "Go, before he gets too far, bring him back alive, if you would, I am not finished with him yet."

Oliver flew down the stairs, not taking them but jumping and over three steps at a time. He burst into a dusty alleyway, his heaving body and disheveled appearance made a few market-goers and hawkers stare in curiosity but he paid no mind to them. All the signs were in Chinese, but it didn't matter he had to keep going no matter what. He needed to find a connection to the outside world, a computer, or phone, anything, no way was he going to become Amanda Waller's slave. He went right and ran just as he heard more guards burst through the door he'd escaped through. Running, he soon came upon the main street.

There were no more trees, or sea, or dirt for him to live off and contend with, he was back in civilization now and bumping into streets swarmed with people felt alien to him. Usually it was Slade, Shado, and Sara versus hostiles on the island trying to kill them. That was all he'd known for the past two years. But nearly everyone around him here was innocent, unarmed and totally oblivious to his current predicament.

They shouted curses in Mandarin at him as he crashed into their carts and kicked their wares aside in his haste to get away and find technology. He spared a glance behind him and saw to his dread that they were gaining on him; he increased his speed, shoving anyone in his way. He was nearing a stack of wooden crates. He twisted and pushed one, unbalancing the whole pile, they toppled over; he hoped it would slow them down.

He didn't stop running though, up ahead he saw the market come to an end and shops come into view, he leapt over a table where a man was seated and painting calligraphy, he brought it crashing to the ground startling tourists.

It might have been his eyes tricking him but he saw a computer inside one of the shops, a Chinese-lion statue sitting outside the doorway. He ran inside, it was a computer café, the store clerks frowned at him. Urgently he reached for one, when an arm shot out and placed him in a chokehold. Using all his strength he leaned forward and hauled the attacker over his shoulder. But before the man's could fall onto the floor, he spun and landed softly onto his feet, his fist propelling like a cobra at him.

Oliver dodged it smoothly, slightly stunned by the attack, frustrated that the toppled crates did not hinder the A.R.G.U.S agents. It was only him and the guard. Without giving it a second thought, he attacked next. They came to blows blocking one another's fists, this one was more skilled in martial arts than his fellows, and his body was growing weary as he tried to keep up, vaguely he wondered when he'd last eaten anything.

Oliver kicked high and he rolled away, he wanted to end this fast before the others caught up. His hand darted out as the guard aimed a punch at his torso. He right-hooked him and wrenched his arm 360 degrees and then kicked him in the groin. He collapsed onto the ground, groaning in pain. Oliver bent over and regained his breath as his mind went slightly dizzy, stomach growling for sustenance.

Regaining his composure he rushed to a computer, cupping a mouse, all the old school-taught IT lessons coming back to him easily, if he could just tell someone he was alive it would be enough, _home, _he could almost taste it—

A bullet shattered the screen.

The sound was still ringing in his ear as he ducked to the floor in instinctual anticipation of another bullet.

"Get up" a voice said in accented English. His jaw clenched hard, resisting the excruciating urge to run, but he was cornered and defeated. Slowly, he stood and turned, but did not surrender.

"You won't kill me" he challenged angrily glaring at the man yielding the gun, he was Asian too, with dark hair, slightly older than him. He knew he was playing with fire, this was the first gun shot fired from any of A.R.G.U.S agents and the next one could cost him his life, but he sensed that this whole insane ride was far from over. They still wanted him. The man did not put the gun down, but instead narrowed his eyes as if to aim more accurately at Oliver.

"Ms. Waller may want you alive, but you are still worth something even with a gunshot wound".

Oliver's shoulders tensed; begrudgingly he held his hands up in surrender. Starling City was looking further away than ever.

**Next chapter: Well let's just say the date goes downhill, even more disappointing than Felicity's senior prom! **


	5. Identity Part 2

**Dedicated to Leticia28 my first reviewer :)**

**A/N: I honestly have no idea how this would go down in the show, but here's my version. Enjoy!**

_2014 _

_September 9__th_

_La Maisonette, Starling City, 21:02 PM PST_

Felicity listened intently as he retold the first day of Hong Kong to her. Her face grew severer as he went on, as she mentioned before he did not have many 'happy stories' when it came to his five years away. When he was done she picked up her wine glass and took a swig, put the glass down, and then picked it up again for another. She was taken aback at first, this was literally the first time she was hearing this, and it was a pretty heavy story, it gave Oliver even more depth than he already had.

"Amanda Waller's on the List." She told him after the shock had passed. Thinking of what he had to do to survive, to trust this woman who was holding him hostage, the complexity of the situation where he was off the island but not completely free. Being surrounded by civilization and technology but being prohibited to use it, still trapped. She never liked Amanda Waller, perhaps even hated her knowing that she initiated the drone strike on Starling and defined it as 'necessary causalities', but also knowing what she had done to Oliver made her mad, though she didn't show it.

"My father knew her, I don't know how though."

"I wasn't sure if you were going to go after her. But I completely understand if you do." Oliver could see her mind working. He had anticipated shock, but apparently it had also made her angry and upset that Amanda had done this to him and she wanted to get her back for it. "She's definitely a high-profile target; if you want to, we'll need at least a few months to—"

While he was curiously flattered that she wanted revenge, he did not want her to become a vengeful person, even for him. He reached out and squeezed her hand to stop her. "Felicity, I don't want to talk about Amanda Waller. And I don't want you going after her". Gently, he stroked the smooth skin of her hand with his thumb, she relaxed. "I told you because I wanted to be honest with you. You should be able to trust me wholly and that means opening up to you. I've never told anyone about Hong Kong, but I _need _too, so that I can heal, and what better person to tell than you?" He said smiling softly, grateful to have her here with him.

She sighed and returned the smile, "Alright". Tentatively, she moved her fingers upwards to thread them through his—

He noticed something strange behind Felicity, the maître d' was sweating profusely, nervously glancing at his watch and then at Oliver's table, and repeated those movements, once, twice, thrice…and then he was sprinting out the restaurant door.

Oliver knew in a spilt second what was going to happen. Blood freezing in his veins, he was standing and leaping towards Felicity, shouting, reaching for her, he dragged her by the arm—and then he was holding air.

An explosion threw Oliver ten feet away.

The sheer force of it knocked him into the wall. On the verge unconsciousness, deaf, blinded by smoke and in pain, he only had one thought before the void consumed him.

* * *

_September 9__th_

_Diggle's Apartment, Starling City, 21:43 PM PST _

John Diggle kissed Lyla on the lips and then placed a protective hand on the swell of her stomach. He was about to lean in for another when Lyla leaned back and frowned at the television screen. The couple was sat on the couch enjoying one another's company, lovingly squabbling about baby names and when they should tell Lyla's mother she was actually pregnant.

"Oh no" she muttered, staring at the screen, John turned to see what had diverted her interest. There was latest news update concerning a gas leak explosion at some fancy restaurant in uptown Starling, which occurred barely half an hour ago.

Then his cellphone rang.

John stood to get it from the hallway desk, "We're not done discussing this" he told Lyla, smirking.

"We are not naming our child 'Justice By Diggle'!" She called to him as she laughed. Diggle smiled at her and hit the answer button, not seeing who it was, but not needing too.

"_Foundry. NOW! Get Roy!"_

_..._

_Minutes before…_

_La Maisonette, Starling City, Unknown Time_

Oliver woke with a start, sitting upright, but his body was aching madly in protest so he lied back down. He was used to getting hit on the head and returning to consciousness quickly. Choking on smoke, he coughed, it was total deafening silence. The explosion had done a job on his eardrums. It was odd, seeing the chaos surrounding him but not able to hear it. He tried to get onto his feet but was only able to get onto all fours. His clothes were shredded and soot-strained, singed black in parts, a piece of shrapnel stuck out of his arm.

_Felicity, _he thought in desperation. Sluggishly, his hearing returned, beginning as a distant high-pitched ringing sound that gradually loudened and then it was back as if the volume in his head was turned to maximum. Oliver crawled and searched for her.

There was wailing, screaming, and groans of pain and helplessness. The smoke alarm was ringing incessantly and there was a fire somewhere in the restaurant. Debris and shattered glass carpeted the floor; he saw a waiter trying to free his colleague from beneath a table, other than that it was grey, oppressive smoke obscuring everything within five feet of him. He crawled beneath a table and saw a red dress and blonde head; he immediately stood, ignoring the wooziness and rushed to the body.

It was Felicity, covered in soot, bleeding from her head. Heart in his throat, he crouched reaching for her neck; unsure of what he would discover, unsure of how he would react if she was dead.

There was a pulse. Relief crashed through Oliver. Not waiting a second longer, he scooped her up in his arms and navigated through the ruins.

* * *

_2009 _

_Hong Kong, Unknown Time _

He was restrained and thrown into a car; the Chinese guard pointing the gun at his guts the whole journey in case he tried anything funny. They took him to an abandoned apartment building and sat him down on a chair inside; the guard positioned himself behind him. There were green construction sheets lain over steels works like curtains, and from between them Amanda Waller emerged. Her stilettos clacked the concrete; she had her hands behind her back holding her authoritative posture. She wore a triumphant grin that said _I won, I own you._ It made his chest burn with rage. He swallowed his anger though as she stood right before him.

"That was a very good attempt, but next time I won't be so nice."

Oliver glared viciously up at her, "You should know that I will never stop trying to escape" he growled.

That wiped the grin off her face, she leaned to his face glaring right back, "and you should know it's extremely easy to kill someone the world already thinks is dead." He had not a single doubt that she meant the threat. He yielded for then but he swore on his father's grave that he would never stop trying. They weren't going to let it be easy for him but if he wanted to escape successfully and live, he needed to bait his time and formulate a solid plan. Not without much difficulty, and not without a scathing glare at her, Oliver relented and leaned back in the chair submissively.

Pleased with herself, Amanda turned to the guard and ordered; "Maseo, please escort Mr. Queen to his quarters". His name was Japanese he realized. With a curt nod from Maseo they were off.

His quarters was the same apartment he awoke within, there was a dojo adjacent to his room that he didn't notice before, stocked with training equipment. Maseo unrestrained him and left him alone, but he knew that he wasn't truly by himself. He went inside the dojo and inspected it, there was a camera watching him from one corner, and he wondered who was on the other side. Just then the sliding translucent door to the dojo opened and inside stepped Maseo, not dressed in his suit but in semi-casual clothes.

"Are you here to kill me if I run?"

Maseo barely acknowledged the cynical edge in his tone; he wore the same authoritative posture that Amanda had. He said monotonously; "Yes. But in hindsight, I am the lesser of two evils, Oliver, may I call you that?"

He found that hard to believe. He had not expected the agent would be even the slightest bit jovial with him, but Oliver was not having any of it. He snorted, "Call me whatever you want, because according to you people I don't exist anymore".

Maseo stared at him as if waiting for him to say or do something, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Have you finished your whining?" Asked the agent_, _Oliver glared at him and folded his arms, Maseo took this as a sign he was done 'whining' and nodded. "Good. I am also here to teach you the skills you will require to complete the tasks she designates to you."

"And what exactly would those tasks be?"

"Tasks only ghosts can perform." Ghosts. The ominous nature sent a shiver up his spine, the possibilities were truly endless. He would be the one doing the dirty work A.R.G.U.S didn't want to get their hands on. He'd deduced that they were a spy organization, underhand and ruthless if Amanda was any judge of the type of personnel they hired. These were the type of people who were careless when it came to human life as long as it served its purpose for the 'greater good' or whatever diabolical goal they aimed to achieve.

"There is a possibility for her to release you once the work is done, whereby you would be free to go home" Maseo told him though it did not insatiate his agitation, the word 'possibility' rang alarms bells in his head. Could he really trust Amanda to hold up her end of such a deal? And did he really cause that much chaos on the island that he was now the equivalent of a disposable tissue to her?

He unfolded his arms and paced the length of the room, the reality of his situation sinking in, he was still bitter about being forced to work for her, and he was essentially putting his fate in her slippery hands. But he had to play along. "But for now, I'm stuck here. I'm not wearing chains but I'm still a prisoner."

Oliver was fixed with a cold, emotionless stare. "Yes, if you want to put it that way."

He stopped pacing and narrowed his gaze at the agent, "So you expect me to be Oliver Queen the—what? The international assassin?"

And then Maseo gave him a piece of wisdom that stuck with him for years.

"A man cannot live by two names."

"What does that mean?"

"In your case, I believe it means not having any choice".

* * *

_2014_

_The Foundry, the Glades, 22:32 PM PST _

Through the red haze in his vision, and the merciless headache hitting his head like a hammer, Oliver was amazed he was even capable of driving a car. He nearly crashed the vehicle into the basement wall, but hit the brakes in time. He rushed to the backseat and bundled Felicity up in his arms.

Oliver set her down gently on the metal table at the center of the lair. He felt utterly powerless, unable to do much else in his state of mind, he held onto the edge of the table, staring at her, panic seizing him as she still had not come too. Oliver banged his fist, leaving a dent in the metal, fury devouring him. Roaring, he took out his phone, nearly crushing it in his hand, steadying himself he dialed. When Diggle answered Oliver said only four simple words;

"Foundry. _Now! _Get Roy."

It was in that instant when Felicity stirred, her eyeballs moved beneath the eyelids and her shoulder jerked.

"Felicity? Felicity! Can you hear me?"

She was trying to say his name. "I'm here", he gripped her hand, holding on. After what felt like hours later, her eyelashes fluttered open, blue eyes staring at the ceiling and then they saw him.

"W-What happened?" She mumbled.

"Bomb in the restaurant." He managed to tell her through the thickness in his throat.

"A-Are you okay?" She whispered, blinking slowly as if her eyelids weighed tons.

He nodded stiffly. She finally got a hold of her bearings. "Are we-are we in the Foundry?" Felicity tried to sit up, but groaned and clutched her bloodied head, he settled her back down.

"Not too fast, I think you have a concussion." Oliver let go of her hand and went to retrieve a first aid kit. He dampened some cotton and began to tenderly wipe the dirt and blood from her forehead, all that anger he'd felt was anger at himself, for allowing this to happen under his watch, in his city, to slip right under all their noses. He checked her vitals, and they were stable for now but who knew what internal damage she might have, _she could've died_. That ball of guilt he'd felt earlier today grew sickeningly and gnawed him from the inside out.

"I'm so, so, sorry, this is my fault. You got hurt again, because of me."

Seeing the pain clouding his countenance, her disorientation vanished within a heartbeat and she bolted upright. "What?" She asked, loudly and with the typical argumentative tone Felicity solely reserved for disagreements with him. "No it's not—"

Feet pounded on the stairs and Roy called, "Hey what's the emergen-Oh my God! What happened?!"

"Bomb".

Roy touched the blonde's arm, "Are you alright?"

Felicity nodded, and touched her forehead stunned to find the side of her face awash with sticky blood when she pulled back.

"Who did this?" Roy demanded infuriated. Roy might have tiffs with Felicity, but he would never allow harm to come to her.

"I don't know. I don't know" Oliver muttered, at a loss, turning away being unable to look at her, and paced with three quick strides across the length of the basement.

He heard the basement door open, and saw Diggle climbing down, he hoped John had forgiven him; he needed all of them more than ever, even if he didn't want to admit it outright. "Have you guys seen the news?" John stopped in his tracks, in shock and worry he rushed to Felicity, "—Damn, are you guys okay? Were you inside the restaurant?"

Oliver gave a shaky sigh, "Close, too close." He could only managed broken, short sentences. Oliver squinted and held his nose bridge trying to gather his memories, the maître d, what he looked like, what would've happened if he hadn't noticed the signs on time…

"You think the bomb was for you?" Asked Roy.

"Hold up, _bomb?_" John exclaimed as he tended to the IT girl, "they're saying it was a gas leak."

"It wasn't".

Diggle grimaced as he plastered gauze on her forehead, "Why the hell aren't you at a damn hospital?!" He shot him a withering look he knew he deserved.

_Why the hell aren't we? _How could he be so stupid? They were both in civilian clothes after all, "I wasn't-I thought maybe—"

"You could find who did it before they got away" Roy finished for him since Oliver couldn't answer the soldier's rebuke properly.

He felt marginally better with his entire team here, but he was so tense that he could feel every knot in his joints, winded like an iron spring. Oliver nodded stiffly at the solider directly in the eyes, silently telling him he was wrong to have exiled him. "You're right Diggle, take Felicity to the hospital."

She finally spoke up, but it was to protest, "No, no, I'm fine". Felicity stood relatively steadily, she was still a bit dazed, but she waved their concerns away.

"No. You're not." He told her, his tone brokering no argument, except hers of course.

"Someone tried to kill you. I'm staying and helping."

Roy studied their outfits, his mentor in suit and tie, the IT tech in a pretty red dress, no glasses, he pointed to the two of them; he hadn't placed the context just yet, "Why are you guys dressed like that?"

"Not the point, Roy" Oliver growled dangerously whilst staring the blonde down, half-pleading half-commanding her to stand down.

Usually Felicity would've argued, focusing on him intensely the entire time, but she didn't this time and instead stepped to her computers, "I'll search camera footage of the restaurant."

Oliver stood between her and the tech and growled at her authoritatively, "Felicity, you need to go the hospital, you're hurt. I'm NOT asking, I am ordering you to go with Diggle—" and he immediately knew it was a mistake.

She flared up in anger, "just let me do this Oliver!" She shouldered past him to the computers, "I was almost killed too and I want to find the bastard who did it just as much as you do." She rounded on all three of them, stabbing a finger. "So _**none **_of you come near me unless I say so." She warned ferociously.

Every single man in that room put their hands up and backed away a few steps.

Who knew she could be scary?

Oliver was not pleased, his knuckles were white as he stared holes into her back, she could feel the stare but chose to ignore it. Diggle and Roy exchanged a glance but there was obviously no swaying the IT girl. A minute later she got what she was looking for. "This is the footage right before the explosion." Carefully-as if they were approaching a mother tiger protecting her cubs-they crowded behind her. There was a video of Oliver and Felicity chatting at a table.

"And there's…us, wow this is really weird, watching the two of us, sitting there…talking, on a date. Um, I'll keep rewinding it." The other two men in the room made no comment (though both of them inwardly groaned "it's about damn time").

"Stop, there." Said Oliver pointing. "He was acting suspicious, and I immediately knew what was going to happen, he ran out the door not even a second before it went off."

"I'll run facial recognition". All but the IT girl stepped away as she went to work 'borrowing' from the FBI and NSA databases.

"Who do you think planted the bomb?" Asked Diggle. Oliver suddenly felt the hot blood trickling down his sleeve and onto the floor due to the piece of metal, and remembered it was there, he started to strip and bandage it.

"Someone out to get Oliver Queen."

"Hey, guys" Roy said trying to get their attention as he watched the TV but no one was listening, "um, guys?"

Digg went on to contemplate the big question on their hands, "It's gotta be someone who knows your secret. I mean how many people out there want to kill Oliver Queen the broke-billionaire?"

Oliver rolled his eyes.

Roy lost his patience, and shouted at them, "Guys! _Hey! _Look!"

Everyone turned, and what they saw shocked them to their core that for ten whole seconds the attempt on Oliver and Felicity's lives were totally forgotten.

"No." Oliver breathed, his pulse skyrocketing. A reporter stood outside a swanky apartment block, where a teenage boy had died due to an overdose of Vertigo, half an hour ago. Memories from the last two years rushed through him.

"How is that possible? You killed the Count" said Diggle in bewilderment.

"I did." He said, grinding his jaw, he had put three arrows in the Count. "Someone else is making it again."

"We should hit both of these tonight before the trail gets cold" Roy advised, repeating a lesson Oliver had taught him about tracking and investigating targets. Diggle disagreed, "We can't spread ourselves thin". Both of them were right, but in the end it was his team, his call.

Oliver already knew what he was supposed to choose, but Felicity asked anyway, "So what should I search for? Bombing or Vertigo?"

He took a deep breath, "Vertigo, check if the DEA has anything." She nodded, capturing his gaze for a brief moment, aware how hard the decision had been for Oliver. To him, the city will always come first, _always _she thought with a mix of empathy and disappointment.

"I'm pulling up DEA case files. Got it." She sifted through irrelevant information before she found what they wanted.

"Ok, first it was isolated cases in the South West, from Albuquerque reaching as far as Seattle and then Gotham City, but none in Starling. It was initially thought to be leftover supply from the Count's production after he escaped from Iron Heights." A map indicated the cities and number of cases, "But then, the cases got more frequent."

"They busted several labs cooking the old version of Vertigo, and managed to trace the production line back to Starling, but they don't know who's manufacturing the chemicals they're using."

"And the first incident of someone using it here was tonight" Diggle completed. No one said anything for a moment, Vertigo might be a drug, but to everyone in that Foundry it was a living, breathing nemesis.

"It's back" Roy intoned, breaking the silence.

"There's more" she retrieved a document containing chem lab reports, "A new ingredient, this was the sample encountered in Gotham City. It contains a modified form of a nerve agent, unpatented, illegal, black market, you name it." Could this get any worse? He was right.

"This stuff completely alters the chemical make-up of Vertigo, making it nearly untraceable in the bloodstream after usage. It could become an entirely new drug." By then Oliver's head was pounding, he held his face in his hands. For the past five months, he'd been coasting basically, but now he was shaken awake, in the most violent way possible. "They have to be getting the chemicals from somewhere in Starling" he told her.

"I'll keep searching; I think you should all gear up in case I find anything." That he could do instead of standing and doing nothing. Roy and Oliver got their equipment, they helped each other load the quivers but Oliver's mind was thinking about what Diggle said last night. _Diggle was right._

"About what?" Roy asked, having heard him voice the thought out loud.

"It doesn't matter."

"Did you find anything?" Diggle wanted to know after they were dressed.

Felicity huffed out her cheeks, her mind straining through dozens of in-depth searches and hacks but she was coming up with blanks, "I'm trying; whoever's making Vertigo again has gotten clever."

"But it's on the streets, this is just like the Count, we find the dealers and work up the hierarchy. Roy—"

"I'm on it!" Said his protégé a foot out the door, flipping his hood on. Roy was the best chance of them finding it, Oliver wanted to join him but Diggle nudged his head towards Felicity, urging him to go to her first. John had cleaned the wounds and cuts, and due to the halter dress she wore Oliver could see the goose bumps on the skin of her exposed back and arms. He brought a blanket to her and wrapped it around her shoulders but did not let go, she glanced up at him.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you."

She didn't say anything but in her eyes he saw forgiveness. "How's your head?" He asked.

"I'll feel better when I go home, once this is done." She added as an afterthought before he could tell her to leave again. _Oliver asks me on a date and this is what happens, just my luck really._ Felicity tried to remember the date before the explosion; _Hong Kong, Amanda Waller, Oliver trying to be romantic, nervous Oliver rambling like I do. _She smiled at how sweet he was. When she thought about it, it was actually going really well, it was almost kind of funny how things turned out—or maybe that was the concussion talking.

"That wasn't even the worst date I've been on" she said to him, but it was clear he was still blaming himself for it, and nothing she could say could change how he felt. It hurt her to see him reeling in guilt. He let go of her shoulders and stepped back, she felt cold again, even with the blanket around her.

"You deserve better than that. I thought you would be in danger when I was the Arrow, but now you're in danger when I'm Oliver Queen too? I was meant to be killed in that explosion and you might have died with me."

"It's not your fault" she reiterated for what felt like the hundredth time, "we couldn't have known."

Roy's comm came online, Felicity looked away from Oliver, she wanted to discuss what 'they' were after what happened at the restaurant but it was definitely not the right time, but when would it ever be?

"Roy?" She prompted into her comm unit.

"I found something".


	6. Identity Part 3

**Hello! I'm sorry this took long, life has been pretty hectic lately. This is quite a long one, and we finally start rolling out the plot, don't forget that my fanfic has crossovers with Young Justice and the Flash and those will come into play soon. This is the last chapter in the Identity arc and the last part of 'The Calm' which is the first episode of Arrow Season 3. Just as I begun the story with The Calm: The Entrepreneur, I'll begin the next episode similarly. **

_The Glades, Starling City, 12:13 AM PST _

Through his binoculars, Roy watched the street corner of the flat building through green night vision. Beside a wall of graffiti depicting a jumble of profane words, was a clogged pipe that emptied onto the sidewalk, not much could fit into it, but a bag of illegal drug money could.

There was no movement, the night was dead. _Any minute now. _Then he saw what he was looking for; a junkie dressed inconspicuously in a hoodie and walking with a slouchy posture sauntered onto the street across the pipe. He waited a moment, and then walked to it, glancing left and right for unwanted bystanders.

Too bad he didn't look up.

The dealer surreptitiously stuffed the brown bag of cash into the pipe and left as quickly as he'd arrived, but the archer knew he only went to wait in the shadows until his quarry appeared.

He had dropped the cash now he awaited the drugs.

Seconds later a car rolled up to the graffiti wall. From his vantage point he saw a man in the driver's seat, _the distributor; _at least the one who worked the streets and dealt with the low-level dealers. Finding the dealers was easy, when a drug got city-wide attention-especially Vertigo- it could sell faster than hot cakes, people just throw money at anyone who can get their hands on the stuff.

The distributor exited the sedan, dressed in smart-casual attire, and swiftly exchanged the money for a bag of drugs at the pipe. The red archer knew more about drugs than he would ever admit. Usually dealers would snort half of the bag themselves before selling it for over the market price to their fellow junkies. Then go to the same street corner for more.

Folding his binoculars back into his quiver, Roy sent a tracker arrow onto the car's bumper.

Roy followed the distributor to his next blind drop. Once there, he released another arrow that whirred an inch past the man's ear which made him a jump a foot in the air, _it never gets old. _

"Make another move, and the next one goes through your skull", he threatened with a booming voice.

The henchman spun around and made a series of false-starts before finding his tongue. "I-I-If you want money—"

"I don't want money, what I want is information." He nocked another arrow. "Who is your supplier?"

The man blinked, trying to articulate a lie. At the moment he feared his employer more than him, but Roy intended to change his perception thus. "I-I—"

"_Who?!"_ He demanded nocking another arrow so there were two on the bowstave aimed at his chest.

"I-I just deliver the drugs and make the drops!" The red archer glared holes into him and he immediately amended his statement. "—he-he ensures we never see him".

The man was interrupted when an arrow pierced the brick wall a hair length above his head.

"I swear!" He wailed, and Roy had to believe him. The red archer used bola arrows to restrain him, once he was floundering on the ground, he bent and retrieved the henchman's keys from his jacket and then went to open the car. The rest of the team needed to be alerted of the recent developments.

"_Roy?"_ Felicity asked when he pressed his comm.

"I found something".

"_Go on."_

"A supplier, he runs blind drops across the Glades to low-level dealers, that's as far as the drug's gone." Roy looked over his shoulder at the guy on the alleyway ground, the man was middle-aged, looked like he'd never gotten in trouble a day in his life, which made the Team's job even harder.

"These guys are dressed nicely in all-American blue collar attire; they don't fit your average profile of drug dealers." He searched the car and lastly tried the carpeting below the passenger seat, there was a hatch, and within it a pound of white pills, _jackpot_.

"I got a bag of Vertigo for analysis."

"_But who's making it again?"_ Oliver pressed, impatiently.

"He's not talking, says he's never met the big boss." He slammed the car door shut and preceded to the rooftops, leaving the henchman immobilized and untouched. This whole operation was beginning to get more worrying by the second. "Oliver I think they're getting outside help."

* * *

_The Foundry, Starling City 12:35 AM PST_

"What do you mean?" Felicity asked Roy.

The emerald archer scowled, "It means we have a power vacuum in Starling after all the criminals we locked up. There's no more competition, outsiders are using the opportunity to set up their own empires here in the outfits left behind."

Diggle creased his brows "They've got a lot of guts coming to Starling City." It was true, the Arrow was feared; only those who had the courage and resources could attempt crime in Starling, especially someone who wanted to manufacture Vertigo.

"Whoever's making Vertigo again has made a business deal with the outsiders, to ensure that no one ever has to see his face in case they come into contact with me, in exchange he gives them protection."

"_I'm sending you his ID. I'm on my way back" _Roy reported and signed off. Felicity received the photo of the supplier's ID, Fred Wallis was his name on the license but she doubted it was legit. She tried to search for who he was anyway.

Having her hair lose across her shoulders got in the way, so she tied it in a messy pony tail to help her concentrate. _We're missing something here, _she deduced. Felicity recalled the night the Count kidnapped her, his malicious smile and glinting eyes, the memory haunted her still. Before Oliver arrived he'd boasted his accomplishment to her, recited the ingredients that made Vertigo abusers achieve an otherworldly high. Felicity suddenly sat ram-rod straight and her fingers flew across the keyboard as the idea blew up like fireworks in her mind, prompting Oliver and Digg's curiosity. At that instant Roy returned but she was solely focused on her search.

"The DEA tracked the manufacturing of every chemical in Vertigo, _except_ the 10 percent of it that is composed of lysergic acid diethylamide, aka LSD. LSD is composed of diethylamine, and _that_ needs ammonia!" _It was staring me right in the face; _she produced a map of Starling and pointed to the screen. "There are three chemical plants specializing in the Haber process to make ammonia in Starling. One in the Glades, one on the outskirts of the county, and one beside the abandoned railways."

That was all the information she could uncover, Oliver's apprentice knew the rest.

"Roy?" Oliver asked, needing his protégé's insight, Roy was able to step up to the plate.

The younger man cupped his chin thoughtfully; he eased closer to Felicity and put a finger at a location on the screen. "I'm betting it's the one besides the railways; they'd want to keep production separate from distribution to remain untraceable. Cooking in the Glades is too close to home, cooking on the outskirts is too far in terms of transport costs. The railway is just perfect."

She licked her lips and searched the particular chemical plant.

"This is it, a Lex Corp nitrogen-fixing plant; it has the equipment you would need to manufacture the drug. It closed down after the Undertaking."

Everyone exchanged brief looks, "That's got to be it" Oliver finalized.

"What about the distributors ID?" Roy asked.

Felicity was not looking at Roy but observing Oliver behind him as he went to swipe his bow off the table as she spoke, "It was forged, but facial rec could give us something."

"I'm going" the archer announced.

The tech opened her mouth to heatedly protest but luckily she was not the only person in the lair who thought the Queen's idea was totally hare-brained and mad. Diggle got in the way of his boss' determined strides inciting an iron glare from Oliver. "Hold on, we have no idea how hard you hit your head. And we don't even know what we're walking into."

"And how many times have we had to deal with this Diggle?" He retorted with a barely concealed growl, "I put the Count in an asylum, and his doctor reproduced the drug. I put him in prison and he made the entire city sick. I put him six feet under the ground but he still found way to resurrect himself! I'm going to_ end_ this once and for all." Diggle was shoved roughly aside, Felicity went to stand, but Roy sided with Oliver, both archers had their bows in hand ready to go.

"You're not going alone, Oliver" the red archer told his mentor resolutely.

The team was at a stalemate; the oldest members versus the new addition. It could be said that Roy and Oliver were like brothers, but John and Oliver have known one another longer. John and Felicity both knew Oliver and Roy could simply continue without them if they wanted too, and they definitely wanted too.

Felicity looked pleadingly at Diggle, "John, we shouldn't…" she started, but suddenly it was as if she was the only person who wanted to keep Oliver within the four walls of the Foundry, safe and protected even if he didn't need protection.

"Okay, but only for recon" John told the emerald archer, though from the way his jaw clenched it had been hard to bite out his consent.

They nodded in agreement and grabbed the comms in a hurry. Felicity was left standing, trying to understand when everything had gone to hell. Oliver stopped before he ran out to the car park and caressed her face, and she could see the layer of painful nostalgia and exhaustion over his blue irises. He wanted to give her reassurance but she held the hand he had on her cheek, telling him it was not needed even if her heart was hurting. He could not see anything past the phantom of Count Vertigo rising to haunt them once more and she doubted she could do anything to dissuade him.

And then he was gone.

* * *

_Lex-Corp Chemical Plant, Starling City, 1:17 AM PST _

The Starling hero parked his bike below an underpass that went over the railway tracks, foliage and darkness gave him the coverage he needed. He crouched and ran down the rusted tracks towards the fencing that closed off the chemical plant. He sleuthed; two guards protected the loading dock.

"Digg, Roy, how's the perimeter?" Oliver asked his fellows.

"_Northeast has five hostiles, changing duty every half hour" _Diggle reported.

Roy was currently occupied; he whacked a guard across the jaw and made short work of the other two. He sensed one approaching him from behind, the red archer whirled and with a smirk lodged an arrow through the attacker's shoulder, and the fight was done.

"_I'm by the water tanks, took our four" _Roy informed.

"_So much for 'only recon' huh?" _The soldier grumbled, hearing the agreement they'd made being ignored by the younger archer.

_"What do these guys look like?"_ Felicity asked Digg.

"_Definitely hired security, but unofficial, could be the mafia the Count's working with" _the soldier added.

How the hell had the mafia managed to sneak back in? Oliver questioned. It was not Bratva, they weren't interested in the narcotics business. It was time for him to find out. The fence was electrically charged but a mere word to Felicity got the fence discharged for twenty seconds. He climbed over in an inconspicuous corner just as the charge returned bringing a light hum of electricity through it. He sprinted to the building, and shot an arrow at the fence to draw the attention of the guards as sparks flew on the fencing. He had never planned for this mission to be solely recon, despite John's wishes, but he would try to be as furtive as possible.

Oliver spotted cameras above the loading docks, so he climbed onto the rooftop away from the camera's line of sight and went around to the fire exit.

"_The coast is clear, go in" _Felicity said as she screened the footage.

The emerald archer walked inside, the walls were sterile white, and so were the lino floors, fluorescent lamps overhang intermittently down the long hall. He gripped his bow tight.

"_Two men approaching" _Felicity warned.

Turning the corner, two guards went into offensive the moment they spotted him, he had no choice but to engage. They were too close for him to use his bow, as they neared Oliver stabbed one with an arrow, and rounded on the next to kick his knee cap. Several more ran into the hall. Even with his steely determination to find the new Count, the men would never be a match for the Arrow; they were only there to slow him down.

He was numb into the fighting, left and right, bodies fell. He hadn't even broken out a sweat but he was growing irritated, feeling as though he was being played with. Roy and Diggle were fighting their own battles too from the reports floating through his comm.

But as the last man fell, a voice blared through the hall from an overhead speaker.

_"Ahem, ahem"_ the detached voice coughed owning his attention._ "If I knew the infamous Arrow was going to pay me an exclusive visit, I would've spruced up."_

He needed to know where this was coming from, "Felicity?"

"_I can't get the signal, he's bouncing it" _she said to her distress.

"Come out and show yourself!" Oliver growled, drawing an arrow.

_"Of course, how rude of me, proceed through the door at the end of the hall and I'll be waiting"_ the voice said with chilled politeness.

"I'm not interested in a deal."

_"Deal?"_ He guffawed as if Oliver had made the most hilarious joke of all. _"Mr. Arrow if I made a deal with you, it wouldn't be very profitable for my business now would it?"_

He had no idea where to aim his words at so he just shouted to the air, he could hear Felicity tapping frantically on the keyboard, "You expect me to trust you, Count?"

_"Werner, Werner Zyrtle."_ The voice-with-a-name told him confidently. _"Can't we have a chat first?"_ Before Oliver could reply he went onto say, _"Aren't you curious how my drug made it's come back?"_ Werner said as if he was asking why the sky was blue.

The offer was tempting; if he could get close enough to the new Count he could end this. He was treading dangerously here; the door at the end of the hall could be a trap or the enigma behind Vertigo. Either way, he was being watched, running was not an option, the only way to move was forward; he was the Arrow and he would deal with this to the end, NOT run.

With his decision in place, the archer lowered his bow. _"Oliver? Oliver, what are you doing?"_ Felicity demanded, the pitch of her voice going up an octave.

He had to bite his tongue to try and ignore her and remain focused, for if he thought about the IT tech and how much hurt he was putting her through he would never be able to finish this properly. Guilt-ridden he addressed the soldier first, "Digg keep his men busy. I don't want anyone intruding. Felicity, get Roy blueprints. Roy circle around, find a back entrance, and cover me."

"_Oliver, no"_ she pleaded.

"Who's Werner Zyrtle?" He interrupted.

He could hear her gulp as she answered,_ "He's not in the database, he's not American. I'm checking Interpol—Oliver, please." _

"Trust me, Felicity" and with that parting he signed off.

The door at the end of the hall could open to a man, a lab, a chasm, or hell for all he knew but he opened it anyway.

The room was awash in artificial blue light, he saw people in white lab coats, and Oliver raised his weapon, everyone at the lab tables raised their arms in surrender at the sight of the vigilante, dropping all they were doing.

The sound of the chink of glass caused him to spin on his heel, and before him was a man, not in a lab coat, but holding his arms up in surrender too.

"I'm not armed" said he, a middle-aged man, with receding hair and beard, dressed like a mobster in a lose dress shirt and suit. Only then did he notice the classical music playing faintly in the background, _Vivaldi, _Oliver mused.

"If you would please vacate the premises" said Werner to the chemists, without turning to them, they left in a hurry, almost trampling over one another as this was not a scene they wanted to witness.

Oliver's first impression of the new Count was this; _he's not insane. _At least not like the previous one was. His eyes flew to search for anyone who would rush at him but he was well and truly alone with the new Count. "We are alone" Werner said, knowing what he was doing.

"Who are you? Why are you making Vertigo again?" He cut to the chase, controlling his anger. The man might not be visually menacing to Oliver, but he was undeniably dangerous if he had the capability to re-start this sort of operation.

"Because the Count is dead" Werner said. He held himself professionally; he might not be insane but there was a manic, perilous aura around him, very unpredictable. He was unlike other criminals Oliver had beaten in previous months, too calm and confident around the Arrow. That only meant one thing; he was holding more cards than Oliver was aware of.

"And Vertigo died with him."

Werner placed his hand is in pockets, there was something sinister about the way the monotonous blue light captured the man's lined features, he eased closer to Oliver. "Something's never die, you for example" he said, almost too low for him to hear. Oliver grew cold all over, _the bombing, _he thought trying to grasp the bigger picture.

He glared at Werner, "I'm not here to play games, what happens now is very simple. Stop making the drug or die."

Count Vertigo looked offended, "Only two choices? You can't expect me to make it this instant."

The Arrow was nocked within half a second, Werner looked slightly fearful and stepped back, eyeing the end of the arrow head. "Does this narrow down the choices?" Oliver threatened. Werner was unarmed as he had said in the beginning but Oliver did not know the rules of the game Werner was playing with him, anything could happen.

Oliver shouldn't have been surprised with how Werner answered. "Mark Gabriel or Count Vertigo, remember him?" Werner went on, he paused to appreciate the melody of _Vivaldi's Four Seasons _playing on the stereo, his fingers pressing invisible piano keys, _maybe he is insane_. The Arrow did not lower his bow, but Zyrtle's initial reaction had passed, he seemed almost comfortable with arrow pointed at his face now.

"The man was half a lunatic and that was before the asylum pumped him with psychotics" he continued, business-like, "while not completely inept to handle the grittier side of the illegal narcotic business; Mark lacked the scientific capabilities to synthesize the formula for Vertigo. Did it ever occur to you that someone else had _created _the drug, but simply was not involved in selling it?" He boasted.

Werner looked incredibly proud to have created the formula, Oliver's glare deepened.

"You're not working alone in this are you?"

All of a sudden it was as if he was listening to his father discussing his latest financial dealings. "You need connections to form an empire, you should be aware, that I wasn't _going_ to kill you Arrow; in fact, it never crossed my mind. Assassination isn't my forte, but a friend of mine needed you dead, and when his plan fell through he called in a favour. I realized it was a win; win for both of us; I wouldn't have to worry about the Arrow interfering in my plans and neither would he. Isn't it just convenient that you waltzed onto my stage all on your own?" Werner made a little sweeping move with his arm to imitate the centuries old dance.

Oliver tightened the strain on the string, "Unfortunately for you and your friend, you both struck out" he said with below-zero coldness.

Zyrtle's shoulders slumped, "Unfortunately we did" he said disappointedly but he was only mocking, in instants a devilish gleam came to his eyes even though they were black as coal in the blue light, and he said;

"But I have very powerful friends".

Oliver was too late to deflect the dart that pierced his arm.

He hissed and yanked it out, but he could already feel the effects of whatever had gone into his system hit his head. Werner scurried away before Oliver's arrow could hit him, it didn't matter since he missed anyway, _I never miss_. The worried shouts of his team in his ear were fading away, the room spun.

"I thought you should try the drug out for yourself, it is really quite effective" Werner explained, Oliver could see five of him, one the real Count the others a figment of his imagination. His arms grew weak and sluggish, every arrow he nocked and loosed scattered to the ground somehow. The world slowed down it's pace.

"Are you alright? You look a bit pale" Werner's words echoed, stretched out to multiple syllables, louder until it was all he could hear as if he was inside his head. "Can you hear me? Can you see me? They say the new ingredient brings forth the nightmares locked in the darkest recesses of your mind. Am I in your nightmares?"

The Count's face was not his face anymore, but morphed into a monster observing him, oozing gunge, with demonic eyes with bright whites, he grinned with razors for teeth. The Arrow needed to fight, but he couldn't, he felt drained of his strive, his willpower.

_Its okay I don't need to fight, I don't-NO but I need too! I have to get up! I—can't _his brain contested with his body. Somehow he was on his knees his vision blurring, the world was shaking as if it had placed in a blender, spinning, spinning and spinning, shaking and shaking.

And standing over him, watching beside the Count, was a blonde woman, and Oliver _knew_ her. That was all he registered before the jaws of his nightmares devoured him.

…

Werner Zyrtle smiled satisfactorily; to see what he had been warned as a 'formidable opponent' and 'unstoppable force' kneel before him, mumbling nonsense about a mother and other unrecognizable names. His associate had left following his orders, he told her he wanted to finish this alone, she was not pleased but he was the boss.

Werner brought up a foot and kicked the Arrow onto his back. He gave a final glance around the lab, it had been a decent area to manufacture his product but it had been temporary from the start. He would have to move the operations to a more permanent location next time if he going to keep up with its growing international demand.

"Disable the fire alarms" he told his men over the walkie-talkie, once that was done, he ordered; "Evacuate the building" and he was not questioned. He stepped over the Arrow who was shaking uncontrollably on the floor, it was almost comical to see the hero suffer. He went to the office desk, taking a dossier of international shipping addresses, _Corto Maltese, Markovia, Colombia, and Taiwan. _The world would experience his new high. He'd made excellent partners in this business, and he was better at it than he'd anticipated. The only direction from here was up, once he killed the Arrow, in the most poetic way possible.

He went to the lab benches and turned up the gas, then took the thermite from the fume cupboard and scattered the powder around with the metal oxide. Finally, he took out his lighter, he used to smoke but stopped for health reasons, yet he kept the old thing in his pocket. He would leave it behind today, along with his biggest problem; the Arrow, his next problem would be ensuring nobody called him 'Count Vertigo' but that would be handled another time. _Now you will die for good, I will make sure the city knows I was the one who killed you, _he thought with great self-dignity, _the entire criminal elite will owe me for this. _

Werner flicked the lighter on and threw it; he was already turning the door handle when the lab exploded in fire.

…

Roy threw the lab door opened; he covered his face as fire licked at him. _I'm too late! _He cursed, but in a glimmer of luck he could see Oliver in the centre of the inferno, magically untouched but definitely not unharmed. He was already sweating, and his face was hot, there was no way he could go through the flames without burning to a crisp. He turned back down the hall and grabbed a fire hose, he pulled down the water latch, he could feel it gurgling through the hose as he rushed back to extinguish as much of the fire as possible.

A burst of water erupted through the nozzle; Roy used his arm strength and directed it at Oliver's surroundings, quenching the fire. Roy ran to Oliver to find that his mentor was curled on the ground, unresponsive and shivering, his eyes wide open but unseeing.

"_Roy! What's going on?" _Diggle demanded.

He dragged Oliver under the arms towards the exit, "The drug's in him. Get the med lab ready!"

* * *

_The Foundry, Starling City, 2:55 AM PST _

"Oh God, Oh God" Felicity cried her heart beating so fast it was as if it wanted to fly out of her chest. Diggle helped Roy carry Oliver in; they laid him unceremoniously onto the metal lab table. She pried an eye lid open, his eye balls were rolling and every muscle in his body was lax as if he didn't have a single bone. "He needs proper medical attention! We need to take him to a hospital" normally she would've been against such a drastic measure but desperate times were calling.

"You know that's not an option" Digg shouted at her. They were crowded around Oliver, with John inspecting the ropey burn on the archer's back that had charred through the green leather.

"We're running out of time!" Roy hissed.

"We have to try" John said levelly, trying to reason with her.

She must have looked like a hysterical mess but Felicity did not care, she scoffed and flung her arms up "I certainly don't remember any of us graduating from med school!" She snapped.

"You can help him Felicity" Diggle tried again. Alarmed she pointed a finger at her chest, and gaped at them both.

"_Me?"_

Oliver started to convulse as if an invisible man was kicking his gut repeatedly and he could not do a darn thing to stop the attacks, his muscles became rigid, and he was jerking.

"He's having a seizure!" Roy said, turning his mentor over onto his side to prevent choking in case he started vomiting. Felicity took a step back and clasped the sides of her head as she watched the horror unfold, he was dying before her eyes, and she didn't know how many more times she could go through watching this. Her mind was racing into darkness, but instantly the idea struck her like lightning.

"Barbiturates!" She exclaimed the others gave her blank expressions which annoyed her beyond reason.

"Barbiturates! Amphetamine, Pentobarbital, or Benzodiazepine! Put it in a syringe! _Go!_" There was no time to explain the chemical terms, she flapped her wrists urgently urging them to hurry and search the medical stores. Oliver's uncontrolled movements were becoming more violent, she pinned him down by the arms to prevent self-injury but he was ten times stronger than Felicity and she was nearly thrown off of him.

Roy produced a packet of the medicine and Diggle helped him grind the pills to powder form before mixing it to an aqueous form. The soldier was an inch away from injecting the Arrow but she latched onto his wrist.

"Let me" she said, visibly swallowing a ball of queasiness, she hated needles. "Too much and he could die". Felicity tapped the edge of the syringe to remove the air bubble, John went to steady his boss. She was not surprised to find her hand shaking like a leaf, in fact her whole body, but she focused her fear and calmed herself enough to administer the correct non-lethal dosage to Oliver's jugular. There was a 60% chance her estimations were wrong, and she might cost him his life but he would've died anyway. _It is a chance I have to take; _she thought as the last drop of clear liquid disappeared inside of him.

As if a blanket of calm had been spread over the hero, Oliver's limbs relaxed and his chest rose and fell at a normal pace. Diggle checked his pulse. Felicity dropped the syringe onto the table and held onto her knees, gulping deep breaths, Roy was doing the same.

"His heart rate is stable" John said to all of their reliefs.

"What was the stuff you gave him?" Roy asked.

"Psychoactive drug to stop the seizure, it's a mild sedative. But God knows what other damage the Vertigo might've caused".

Diggle nodded at her solemnly, "You did good, Felicity."

_Then why do I feel as though I've done nothing good at all? _"I wouldn't have needed to do anything if you'd listened to me" the blonde snapped. From the looks of guilt they held she regretted the words, and clasped her hand over her mouth.

"Sorry, I'm a little bit…" she massaged her temples trying to settle her frazzled nerves. Diggle understood.

"It's late, and tonight was rough on all of us. Maybe Oliver was right; maybe I shouldn't be in the field anymore."

Felicity blinked trying to keep up with what he had just said after everything else that had just happened, "W-What are you talking about? He asked you to leave?" She nearly shouted, in disbelief.

Diggle shrugged, "I was only gone for 24 hours."

"Why did he do that?" Roy asked, shocked as well.

"For Lyla, for the baby."

"If tonight was any indication, Oliver needs you more than ever now." And Felicity realized how selfish that sounded to her, she frantically rambled "but I'm not saying that Lyla or the baby aren't important—"

The soldier stopped her with a hand, "I understand what you mean, and it's what I told him, that I know what I'm doing. I still should never have allowed him to go. I'm not thinking straight, maybe a break is a good id—"

Before he could finish, Oliver was groaning back to consciousness, finally out of his hallucinatory state. "Oliver, are you alright man?" Diggle asked helping his friend sit upright.

Instead, he answered the question with another question, "W-Werner, did we…?"

"No" said Roy, glancing down dejectedly. It was the first actual loss he'd felt whilst being a vigilante, she felt the disappointment too.

"Are you alright?" Felicity asked again holding Oliver's shoulder, he wasn't fully himself yet. She needed him to be okay, they all did, they'd done terribly today, no planning, just impulse. This was like the weeks before the city was held hostage by Slade. Failure after failure crushing the team.

"I've been better" he muttered, it was obvious he was trying to push through the emotional and physical toll tonight had taken on him, as he frowned and tried to stand, but ended up hissing in pain.

"You're back is burned; it'll take at least three weeks to heal. You need to take it easy for the next few days; you won't be able to get anything done if you're still injured like this" Diggle said, with a tone that suggested he would personally handcuff Oliver to a hospital bed if he tried anything too soon.

"What happened after?" He asked.

"I called the cops in time, they have the lab scientists and several of Werner's men in custody, it's unlikely they'll be acquitted of the court sentences, given they were willingly complying to work with the Cou-_Werne_r." She informed, her heart rate slowing down, but no less restless. "He paid them well" she added, grimly.

"If he's the type of man I think he is he's probably paying their families until they get out of jail, as compensation. It's perfect incentive to maintain their loyalty" said Roy.

Oliver was not totally listening; he was staring at the floor with a forbidding expression. "I saw Sara."

This startled the team; Sara was working with Count Vertigo-who had just tried to kill him? No way.

"Are you sure?" Diggle asked, unconvinced.

Felicity shook her head adamantly, "That can't be why she's in town, and she would never try to kill you. You _know_ she wouldn't" she told him fiercely, he looked at her directly then, searching for the reassurance in her, but he still seemed uncertain.

The conversation hung by a thread, until Roy said, "You were tripping on the drug, you could've seen anything."

Oliver's countenance lightened fractionally, he nodded seeing the sense in his protégé's explanation. He _had been _tripping, _and failing the city too_ he thought to his dismay. His pride got his in the way and he nearly died because of it_. _He looked at his teammates, everyone was weary, and Felicity needed a change of clothes and proper rest. The night was at its end, but nothing was over yet.

* * *

_Beneath Star Bridge, Starling City 4:41 AM PST_

The Chemist met the assassin beneath the bridge. Night still ruled the skies, and he would've normally taken a moment to appreciate the full moon that swelled over the bay, scalloping the inky waters. But as it was, near the hour of dawn, he was called here for business. The water lapping on the shores was all he heard, he squinted in the darkness but saw nothing. His bodyguards were positioned close by but not too close, the assassin could be trusted not to harm him, he had given her no reason to kill him thus far, he was her bosses' investment after all.

The scuff of feet nearly made him jolt but he managed to turn slowly to face the assassin, who was half a shadow in her black garb. None of his bodyguards had seen her approach.

"You should've let me kill him, I would not have failed" she cut in before he could greet her formally. He despised her rudeness but he tried to be polite, even if she acted impossible at times. But he was more concerned with the news she had brought, _the Arrow, alive? _

"How did he survive?" He asked, darkly. Rage boiling beneath his unperturbed expression.

"His partner dragged him out, if you had not started a fire, I could've finished both of them". He did not like being reprimanded by anyone, especially someone who- as of now-was meant to be working _for him. _

"Our hero has nine lives it seems" he said coldly.

"Are you not disappointed?"

He waved dismissively, "He won't get in my way, and I am not my predecessor". He studied her even if he could not see her face, she was quite arrogant and no matter how hard he tried he could not treat with her professionally. "Apparently, our contract has ended. I wish I could say it was a pleasure".

"Be thankful. You have what you need" she growled, her hand around the hilt of her sword, he had seen her use it before and he was not dumb enough to test her ability.

Out of mild curiosity he asked, "There was a bomb in a restaurant in town last night. They claim it was a gas leak. Was that your doing?"

"Perhaps" she replied monotonously, giving nothing away, but he knew it had to be her who had done it.

"Were you successful in eliminating your target?"

Too his dissatisfaction, she barked a laugh, "And here I thought you were an intelligent man, have you truly not seen it yet? The truth stood right before your eyes".

He scowled and grinded his teeth, "Humour me."

He could practically hear her smirking, she started to leave, "I expect my payment by mid-afternoon, fail to comply and I will shut down your entire operation."

Another thing he hated was threats.

"I am a man of my word" he assured, getting irritated.

She nodded curtly, "Indeed, my boss is counting on it."

Their parley was almost at an end; even if she had helped him set up business he was glad to see her leave. He always felt he was putting unnecessary tension on himself whenever the assassin was around, because she could be very unnerving. "Very well, give my regards to Ra's." When she gave no reaction his eyes actually grew large. "No?" He said, examining her appearance he could not be mistaken, surely he could not, "You are not League?"

She gave a little snort, "You're going to have to try harder if you want to know who my employer is."

**Next Chapter: we begin the second episode of Arrow Season 3, hint; it's called 'Sara' ;)**


End file.
